End Game
by RiverMonster2014
Summary: Jane Rizzoli & Maura Isles have been friends for years but as the two move forward in their relationship things go horribly wrong. A man who attempted to kill Jane has escaped from prison and is after them both. Now with time ticking away and Maura's life on the line, Jane must face her worst nightmare head on to save the woman she loves. RizzolixIsles rated for lanuage/situations
1. Chapter 1

**Hello readers! Some of you may have read my other fanfics, others maybe not but either way here you go. Here's chapter one of my new story End Game, and I made it pretty good if I may say so myself. So as always thank you for reading, don't be afraid to tell me what you think and enjoy.**

Chapter 1: Boom

I tapped my foot impatiently as I waited for my coworker and friend, Dr. Maura Isles, to get out of the bathroom. We had received a call from Cavanaugh (my boss) that we had a crime scene we needed to get to- and of course it was before Maura had a chance to take a shower. Normally it wasn't a problem for her to jump in the shower and be ready in fifteen minutes, today however I had given her five minutes. I glanced at my phone to check the time, cursing under my breath when I saw we were running late.

"Come on Maura, we gotta go!" I shouted annoyed.

"Calm down, I'm ready," Maura said walking into the kitchen. "The crime scene isn't going to go anywhere."

"It may not be but I will," I growled moving towards the front door. "Get the keys."

"You've been in a bad mood since yesterday," she said following me out to her car. "Did something not go well with Internal Affairs?"

"I'm just getting screwed by the department," I said sliding into the passenger seat. "I followed protocol, went by the damned book, and they want to take my shield because a suspected ended up dead… A suspect I might add who shot at me with an automatic rifle."

Maura backed the car out of the driveway but didn't say a word. Both of us had been thrown under the bus when I was told, and I use that term lightly, that there was an Internal Affairs investigation over my conduct at the end of the case. Apparently when a cop's life is in danger and they follow protocol to the tee the obvious situation is thrown out the window and the cop gets to take the heat. In my entire career as a cop, homicide and vice, I had shot suspects and stabbed suspects when I was in danger of being killed- never once had a server investigation been started. But this one guy, a druggie from New York City, was apparently more important to the Department then one of their best cops. Because of that man I was at risk of losing my shield, losing everything I had worked so hard to obtain.

"The second they bring in character witnesses for you Jane, the whole case will fold," Maura assured me as we continued down the street to the coffee shop where our DB was.

"If we're lucky," I muttered. "Even if it disproves everything they're saying I bet- no I guarantee they'll still take it to court."

"What are the charges again?" Maura asked, pulling to a stop at a stop light.

"The question is what the charges aren't," I corrected her.

"If worse comes to worse I'll call my dad and have him represent you," Maura's hand found mine. "He's a good lawyer."

I smiled before turning my attention back to the street ahead of us; we were coming up on the scene. The buildings were painted in the blue and red of the police cruisers light. Maura pulled her car to the curb behind an unmarked police car I guess was either Korsak's or Frost's. Together the two of us walked up to the uniformed officers behind the yellow tape and showed him our identification before moving into what I know realized as Boston Locals, a coffee shop I had frequented back at the academy. The shop was a surprisingly large size for a family owned business, the counter was set back from the front door and tables were spread far enough apart to give people privacy but close enough to be able to talk to other patrons. But today the shop no longer had that friendly air about it. Instead it was dismal, because of the burn marks concentrated in the center of the shop and the charred remains that lay in that circle.

Maura already had the blue booties on and was pulling the latex gloves over her hands as I took in the scene. It was hard to see Boston Locals like this after spending so much here studying while in school. What made it easier to stand there in the destruction was seeing the elderly owners and their sons standing well and alive over by an ambulance. I pulled my own latex gloves and booties on and followed slowly behind Maura, taking time to look at the ceiling and the rest of the shop. From what I could tell the damage was localized in the area where our victim was, which was odd for what I had been told happened. I looked up from the mess on the floor and nodded to Korsak as he came up to me.

"According to the owners this guy came in with some other men around 7AM, then they left and he stayed here. Next thing they know there's a loud explosion and this guy got fried," Korsak informed me, looking at his note pad. "One person was taken to the hospital with minor injuries from shrapnel; everyone else who was here is without injury."

"Did anyone see anything? A strange bag or briefcase?" I asked kneeling down to get a closer look at the floor.

"No, all everyone remembers is one second it was quiet the next all hell breaking loose," Korsak replied. "From the looks of it the bomb was only a foot or two away from him, but the blast was relatively small. One our Vic didn't go flying somewhere else and two he's still in one piece."

"What are we looking at?" I scratched my neck and lifted up a piece of wood that must have been from a table. "Pipe bomb?"

"One weak pipe bomb," Korsak said.

I straightened up and walked over to Maura, careful not to step on any of the debris. Maura was examining the victim's hands, looking at the fingers- or what was left of them, before she shifted her weight and turned her attention to the head. She turned the head so she could look in the mouth, the neck cracked and made noises in protest as she did so. I leaned down to get a better look with her, scrunching my nose at the smell of burnt flesh.

"What do you have for me?" I asked.

"The victim's fingers are missing," she looked up at me. "It doesn't appear to be trauma received during the explosion."

"How is that possible?" I looked at the hands and saw she was right; it looked more as if they had been cut off.

"That's not the only thing that's odd," she continued. "Look at his neck, there's a deep gash as if someone took a knife and slit his throat."

"I don't see any blood," I glanced down then rose. "And if his throat was cut someone would have seen something, so… what? Someone killed him, dressed him up and carried him here just to blow him up?"

"Not carry," Maura turned the body on its side. "You see this metal here? This man was in a wheelchair, when the bomb went off it was hot enough to melt the metal to his skin. From the looks of it Jane, the damage cause by the bomb was post-mortem, but I won't know for sure until I get him back to the morgue."

I moved away from Maura and the victim and went over to the counter trying to get an idea of what people could have seen. After a minute I found myself standing at the register looking out at Maura, Korsak, Frost and the rest of the crime scene. I could see everything from that spot, from the corner booth over to the two person table on the far side of the shop. Looking down at the register I saw a slip of paper sticking out of the machine; I realized it to be the receipt from the last costumer. I ripped it off and read it over; the last costumer had bought a Vanilla latte and a bagel.

"Hey Korsak, do we have an ID on the guy who was taken to the hospital?" I asked. "And where was he standing when the bomb went off?"

"Houston Berkley," Korsak responded. "And he was standing at the counter; owner said he bought a latte or something."

I nodded to myself and slipped the receipt into an evidence bag and put it in my pocket. _Our victim was probably killed before the bomb… Why the hell would someone kill someone, bring him to a public place and blow him up? _I thought to myself as I looked around behind the counter. Finally I came up to a metal door that most likely lead to the kitchen and from what I could tell no one from the department had checked it out yet. Behind me I could hear Frost and Korsak talking to one of the owners and the body being wheeled out the door on a gurney. From what I could tell Maura was still standing there looking at the floor, most likely searching for a finger that had manage to make it here. I put my hand on the door handle and twisted it, pulling the door open in my direction. That's when I heard the click of a pin being pulled out of something; I only had seconds to realize it was a trip wire that had been tied to a grenade pin, and I had just pulled it.

"Shit!" I cried, the second I heard the pin hit the ground. "Everyone take cover!"

Everything went in slow motion after that. I leapt over the counter and sprinted over to Maura before slamming into her. We both crashed into the ground a second before the grenade went off and sent a ball of fire rushing towards us. I covered my head with my arm and shielded Maura with my body, hoping the blast wasn't large enough to bring the building down on top of us. I felt Maura grip at my blazer as the shock of the explosion reverberated through the building. In what felt like minutes, but was only second it was over. I didn't move off of Maura though, I held her closely and waited for another minute. Maura's hands had gotten to my shoulders and she was pushing me up, trying to get some of the dead weight off of her.

"You're crushing me," she breathed as I feel off to the side.

"Sorry," I said, breathing a sigh of relief. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine," she said, pushing herself up into a sitting position. "What about you? What just happened?"

"Trip wire, went off when I opened the door," I told her, scanning the area to see if anyone had been hurt. "I'm alright."

From outside I could hear people shouting and scrambling to get people away from the building in case it collapsed.

"Janie! Dr. Isles?!" I could hear Korsak shouting for us.

"We're here Korsak, we're alright," I called to him and waved my hand so he could find us in all the dust that had been stirred up.

As I helped Maura up Korsak and Frost came running into the building, completely ignoring the danger they were putting themselves in. Together we all ran out to the street passing the yellow tape and stopping when we reached the uniformed officers who had been stationed to watch the perimeter.

"Christ, are you two okay?" Frost asked spinning around to see the fire that had spread to the building next to the coffee shop.

"We're fine, I just landed on my arm funny," I assured him.

"You mean you landed on me funny," Maura corrected me, offering up a friendly smile.

"What the hell happened?" Korsak asked, as fireman ran in to suppress the fire. "Frost and I went to talk to the sons and then the kitchen blew out of the side."

"I can't be positive but I think there was a trip wire attached to the door and grenade pin, when I opened the door I tripped the mechanism," I explained, rubbing my shoulder.

"Bomb squad will be here within an hour," Frost said turning back to face us. "We should get back to the precinct and go over the evidence we collected and wait for their report, and hopefully obtain the remnants of the bomb that just went off."

"Do we have pieces of the first one?" I asked.

"Yeah, crime scene crew took it back to the lab already. They'll test to see what was used to make it and they'll send a 3D model of the bomb when they put it back together," Frost explained. "You two should probably be checked out by the medics."

Maura and I both agreed and found our way over to the remaining paramedic who had been examining the owners of Boston Locals Coffee Shop only half an hour ago. He sat me down on the bumper of the ambulance and started the basic physical exam; flashing a light in my eyes, taking my blood pressure and heart rate as well as checking my lungs. I stood there with my arms crossed as Maura went through the same procedure and was given a clean bill of health. The two of us finally made our way through the large crowd of uniformed officers and pedestrians who were trying to see what was happening to get to our car.

Because the bomb squad had been called in to search the remainder of the building for any other explosives as well as help deem the place structurally sound the decision to go back to the precinct was a no brainer. Maura handed me they keys before she went over to the passenger's side and got in. I sighed to myself about the turnout of the crime scene knowing full well that my ma would have something to say about it. With all that was currently going on the last thing I needed was my ma telling me to transfer to a safer division, which did not exist in the police world unless you took a desk job and I wasn't about to do that.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

I parked Maura's car outside the front of the precinct when we finally got back and together we headed up the stairs and entered the lobby. Instantly my ma was on top of us, hugging us both so tightly I thought I was going to be crushed. If there was one thing I could always rely on it was the uncanny ability of word to spread in less than 30 minutes. I guess it made sense though since the Boston PD Bomb Squad had been called out Cavanaugh knew what was going on therefore most of Homicide knew so my ma knew. News spread faster than the flu in the department, which is how I had probably ended up tangled in the Internal Affairs mess.

"Thank God you two are okay!" she cried. "Frankie told me that there had been a bomb at your crime scene, I was so worried."

_Frankie you are so dead…_ I thought as I tried to push me ma away.

"Ma you're crushing us," I gasped. "Please… let go."

"I'm sorry," she said stepping away. "You scare me sometimes with these close calls."

"We know ma," I sighed.

"Are you two hungry?" she asked.

"I've got to get to the morgue and start on the autopsy," Maura told her.

"And I've got to get upstairs and piece through the evidence we picked up," I added.

She nodded understanding that it was a murder case and it was Maura and I's job. We left her and headed to the elevators; Maura pressed down I pressed up. For a minute we just stood there staring at the doors, but the bell rang on both at the same time and opened up.

"I'll come down in an hour to get the report."

"No promised I'll have anything."

I smiled and stepped into the up elevator, waiting for the doors to close and it to take me up. When I stepped out on Homicides floor I could see Korsak and Frost working on the computers in Brick, sorting through the crime scene photos. I walked in and crossed my arms as I bit my lip and examined an image of the DB at the scene. Korsak glanced up at me but remained silent as Frost continued to click forward through the images. Finally I turned to them.

"So what do we know?" I asked.

"The bomb squad confirmed your hunch, the method used for blowing up the kitchen was a method commonly used during the Vietnam War," Korsak explained. "They would tie a trip wire around a tree or branch and then set a grenade with the other end of the trip wire attached to the pin, when a soldier would walk into it he would pull the pin and then boom."

"So why that door?" I asked. "What was so important about it? What was the killer trying to do?"

"Maybe he was hoping he could get a cop?" Frost asked. "Or he was targeting someone in the shop?"

I picked up the notes Korsak had taken while at the crime scene and looked for the witness accounts. According to the youngest son, Blake Gillespie, when the explosion happened he and his father ran out the kitchen to get to safety while his mother and older brother ducked behind a booth then ran out the front door. If the account was right, which it probably was, then the second bomb would have had to have been set after the first one went off. This meant that whoever had dropped our DB off and blown him up had stuck around to go in and place a second device as the police were heading there.

"No, according to Blake Gillespie he and his father had escaped through the kitchen, the second bomb would have been placed afterwards," I shook my head.

"Why the hell would someone do that?" Korsak asked. "Even if he was after a cop he would have no idea who would open that door."

"So why use the grenade?" I asked. "Another thing that bothers me is Maura believes our victim was killed before he was taken to the coffee shop and blown up. Why would someone take that risk? What was the point of taking a dead body to a public place and setting off a bomb?"

"Doesn't make any since to me," Frost shrugged.

On the desk the land line rang Korsak picked it up and turned his back to Frost and me to talk to whoever had called. Frost and I left him to it and instead looked through the images again not looking for anything in particular but hoping we would find something. There was nothing that would direct us toward a suspect, from the looks of it he had ran before the bomb had detonated. Behind me I heard Korsak set the phone back into its cradle and heave a sigh.

"Crime scene crew pieced together enough of the first device to get a positive identification on it," he started. "Like you thought it's a pipe bomb. They guess it was homemade in someone's garage and was purposely built to only have a small blast radius and cause minimum damage to whoever was around it."

"So what our guy wanted to destroy evidence on the victim but keep him intact enough for us to have a chance at him?" I couldn't believe that there had to be another reason for it. "Sounds pretty ballsy to me."

"Maybe Dr. Isles can give us more information," Frost suggested. "She should be close to done on the autopsy right?"

"She's a little behind, my ma blindsided us in the lobby," I explained.

"Alright," Korsak nodded. "How did it go the other day with the IA officers?"

"Terrible. They're pushing to remove me from duty, they want to take my shield," I replied.

"Come on, what the hell did they tell you?" Korsak nearly shouted.

I dove into relaying what had happened at the meeting to Korsak and Frost. Both of them listened closely as I explained that they were saying I had shot before the suspect pulled a gun and had not followed protocol. I told them that they were trying to get me for not calling back up and were also trying to claim I was under the influence while perusing the suspect. None of which was true; I been on duty all morning and had been separated from Korsak when the suspect started firing off his weapon at me. By the time I had gotten done explaining everything thirty minutes had past and both Korsak and Frost were fuming. I excused myself to go down stairs to talk to Maura before they could rant about how much of an asset I was to the department.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

Maura was examining the laceration on the victim's neck when I entered the morgue. She stood over the body with her scrubs on, hair pulled back, hands gloved up and her instruments laid neatly out on a tray. I walked over to her and waited for her to fill me in on her findings.

"I haven't finished yet Jane," she said, pressing her finger into the wound before removing it. "I did confirm cause of death but not time of death or the identity of the victim. I'll have to get his dental records."

"Okay… So what was the cause of death?" I asked, peering down at the wound.

"Exsanguination but he also aspirated," she replied catching my gaze. "You can see the burns on the inside of the laceration, which proved my theory that he was killed then blown up."

"He drowned?" I looked at her confused.

"It's strange because the heart would be pumping the blood up and out he wouldn't have been able to breathe it in. But somehow he did," Maura explained.

"One hell of a way to die," I muttered.

"It took time for him to bleed out as well, even though the laceration was deep," Maura added.

Maura pushed her fingers into the laceration again and looked closely. I caught a glimpse at what she was looking at; a piece of metal that seemed to have been lodged in his throat. She reached over to her tray and grabbed a pair of tweezers. After adjusting her position she used the tweezers to remove the piece of metal (or what I assumed to be metal) out of the wound. She held the object up so both of us could get a better look at it. To me it looked like the tip of a knife, but I couldn't be sure.

"I'll give it to the lab to do testing,"

She reached over and dropped the object into a metal pan.

"So help me out here," I said crossing my arms. "If you were the killer why would you kill a man then take him to a public place and blow him up. When instead he could have just used lighter fluid and torched him."

"Maybe he wanted to taunt the police?" Maura suggested. "Or he wanted to show his power?"

"Perhaps…" I agreed. "But slitting someone's throat, cutting off his fingers then putting him in a wheelchair to take him to a coffee shop, just to blow him up?"

"That's your job to find out not mine," Maura smiled.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

When Jane had left Maura to wrap up the autopsy Maura started to look at the back of the victims head. She noticed that there was an area that wasn't as badly burned as the rest; however there was an unusual burn pattern that didn't match that of an explosion. Maura grabbed her scalpel and made three uniform incisions around the burns and peeled away the skin. She set the scalpel aside and shown some light on the piece of flesh and saw that the burns appeared underneath as well. _That's odd…_ she thought to herself as she looked at the top layer of skin again. Next to her was a tape recorder she used to make her report; she reached over and pressed record.

"Behind the right ear there is little to no scorching from the explosion… However there are two uniform burns approximately an inch to two inches apart. They appear to be electrical burns."

Maura stopped in her tracks; why hadn't she seen it before? A murder where the MO is a slight throat and unusual burn marks behind the ear…? _No…_ Maura thought, _not unusual- taser burns._ Suddenly Maura felt sick to her stomach she knew who used that method in killing someone. Everyone in the department knew who that MO belonged to. Maura knew _he_ was in prison, and she knew he was on death row but deep down she also knew nothing could keep him from training an apprentice. She stopped the tape-recorder, ran to her office and called Korsak; he was as close to this as Jane and herself were.


	2. Chapter 2

**Hey everybody here's chapter 2 for you, I apologize for how long it took for me to type it. I will try and be faster with the next update. Things will pick up in the story within the next chapter or two. Until I update again as always thank you for reading, don't be afraid to tell me what you think and of course enjoy.**

Chapter 2: Internal Affairs

I was still in shock over the news Maura had given me yesterday after she had finished the autopsy on our victim. The news had knocked the wind right out of me; somehow, someway Charles Hoyt had trained another apprentice. No one could figure out why the apprentice decided to blow up his first (if it was really his first) victim; the best idea we could come up with was he was directed to do so. I sat on the couch in Maura's family room staring blankly at the flat screen deep in thought. Hoyt was smart and good at manipulating people to do his bidding so it was possible he had another inmate who had been release trained as his apprentice. The memory of Hoyt's last attempt to murder me flashed through my mind. That time Hoyt's apprentice had been a soldier in the Army, and had spent his time overseas practicing his skills on insurgents and members of his own division.

Korsak, Frost, Maura, Cavanaugh and I knew that Hoyt could have manipulated more people then we knew of to do his dirty work while he was in prison. We all knew of the chances Hoyt would escape again if given the chance; it wouldn't take him much effort to fool the prison guards. He had already done that once there was nothing to say he wouldn't do it again. I rubbed the scars on my hands subconsciously aware of the action, but not really noticing. From the far end of the room I heard Maura walk into the room and come to a stop behind me. I looked up at her and caught her eye, the worry and doubt she felt showing on her face.

"The lab finally matched dental records with our victim," she said knowing I didn't want to talk about Hoyt. "According to the files he's Jay Sarto, 35, teacher at the local high school."

"Do you have the file with you?" I asked craning my neck.

Maura came around the couch and sat down next to me before handing me the file marked Sarto, Jay. I opened it and saw the smiling photo of Jay Sarto, a grey eyed, brown haired English teacher from the high school I graduated from some years ago. I flipped through the pages of information trying to get an idea for who the guy was.

"He was engaged?" I asked, looking at Maura.

"Korsak and Frost were going to inform her of his death," she replied. "They wanted to call you but I asked them to let me tell you."

"Why would she still be alive?" I asked receiving a puzzled look from Maura. "Think about it that was Hoyt's motive. He would subdue the husband first with the Taser, and then he would slit his throat. We never found the bodies of the women he suspectedly killed, but we knew he killed them. Hell even his first apprentice followed that, why wouldn't this one do the same?"

"That's your job to find out," Maura said wearily. "You'll get him, I know you will."

"Not with that fucking Internal Affairs officer breathing down my neck," I sighed. "They're coming after me for everything. I found out this morning that they're even investigating my actions yesterday when the bomb went off."

"You knocked me down to shield me from the explosion, they can't deny that you were acting out of instinct to protect people," Maura was shocked. "They can't do this do you Jane."

"Well they will and they are," I said rubbing my palms again.

Maura wrapped her arms around me, hugging me from the side. I took in a deep breath of frustration angry that I couldn't fix the problem I was in. Maura took my hand in hers and started running her thumb over the scar. I leaned into her and pecked her on the lips, not really in the spirit to do anything more.

"Are your hands hurting again?" she asked after a minute.

"Yeah, it's getting to be that time again," I muttered, pulling away from her and standing up. "It'll be a year from Thursday that Hoyt escaped the first time…"

Maura got up and followed me into the kitchen, sitting down at a barstool while I searched for something to drink.

"Don't worry about Hoyt, just worry about catching the killer," Maura told me. "There may be similarities but there is no way Hoyt could be behind this."

I stopped dead in my tracks on my search for a drink with my head still stuck in the refrigerator. She was almost right; even if Hoyt was in prison he could have organized it whether it had been recently or when he had escaped the last time. The only person in the world who could give me helpful information was accessible to me at all times; the only problem was that he might not give me anything. But there was something else too… I wasn't sure I would be able to stomach visiting Hoyt, not after what he had done to me.

I shut the refrigerator door before turning back to Maura a grim expression plastered on my face. From the look she gave me I knew she realized what I had been thinking. Immediately she shook her head and raised her hands not liking it already. I leaned across the counter my hands coming to rest right in front of hers, trying to seem cool about what I knew I was going to have to do.

"I'm going to talk to him," I stated straitening up.

"You're not thinking," Maura said shortly.

"Hoyt knows something Maura," I stated. "All I have to do is play to his narcissism and he'll give me what I want- even if it's not much."

"I don't agree with this," she said.

"I don't like it either but what other choice do we have?" I asked. "Besides Hoyt's scheduled for execution in four months, going to speak to him will give me the chance to tell him he lost, that the game is over."

Maura sighed and shook her head, worried that no good would come out of visiting Hoyt in prison. I wasn't too big on the idea myself, but we truly had no choice. If the killer really was another one of Hoyt's apprentices he would know something, somehow from behind the scenes he was pulling the strings on this one. For all I knew he was planning something, maybe even his final attempt at me. I knew that Hoyt wouldn't go to his grave without finishing what he had started, but I also knew he wouldn't escape. He wasn't my biggest concern even with the possibility of our murderer being an apprentice. Right now my biggest concern was losing my badge because of some fishing expedition Internal Affairs was going on with my career.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

Frost and Korsak had obtained videos from security cameras located outside and inside the coffee shop. We had caught a break when we discovered that the security camera's from the shop recorded the videos and saved them in computer files and that they continued to record until the second bomb was triggered. In Brick Frost had pulled up the video on the large flat screen for use to go through in hopes we could find something that would lead us to a witness or a suspect. Currently we were on the video from early morning when the victim was said to have been brought in with a friend. If we had gone through each view one by one we would be here for months so we had pulled it up as a four way split screen. It made it harder to catch things because you had to divide your attention between four views at one time but with some practice it was something we were able to do fairly easily.

We had already identified our victim and the man who had come in with him, but he had kept his face hidden and his back towards the cameras so far. When we had suspects who avoided the camera it usually meant that they had scoped out the place before hand and located the entire amount of cameras before. This usually was both good and bad for us; the bad thing was it meant that we wouldn't get a look at his face, but the good thing was it meant that he could have been caught on camera earlier when he was doing his scouting.

"Well he was a Red Soxs fan…" I said pointing at the suspect's hat.

"I'll make sure we put out a BOLO for a Caucasian male, average height and build wearing a Red Soxs cap," Frost joked.

"You just described half the men in Boston," Korsak smirked.

"Add trench coat to the description," I advised them jokingly. "That should narrow it down by half."

Korsak, Frost and I burst out laughing; during tough cases we always used humor to lighten things up and to boost morale. Both Korsak and Frost had had the same idea about going to talk to Hoyt, the very thought of doing so for any of us was hard. Korsak had seen me at my worst when Hoyt attempted to kill me the first time, and after that I put in for a new partner. Then Hoyt had escaped and made a second attempt and Frost had learned why I asked for a new partner and why Korsak had been so protective over me. Neither of them wanted to see me hurt again, and neither of them wanted to stick me in a room with Hoyt even with guards. Hoyt knew how to get under my skin, and he knew he had power over me even if I wouldn't let him see it.

"Rizzoli, my office now," I turned around to see Lieutenant Cavanaugh standing in the door to brick.

I glanced at Korsak and Frost in confusion; both of them glanced back with the same confused look on their face. Cavanaugh lead me back into his office, shutting the door behind him as soon as we were through the threshold. He walked over to the other side of his desk and sat down in his chair, but remained quiet. I moved farther into the room not interested in sitting down, so I just stood waiting for him to speak. After a few minutes when he didn't speak I did.

"What's going on Cavanaugh?" I asked.

"I need to talk to you about the Internal Affairs investigation," he replied.

"Great…" I muttered. "How much more are they planning to screw me over?"

"They aren't telling me everything Rizzoli," Cavanaugh sighed. "But they're watching over you like a hawk."

"Why?" I asked getting angry. "I've dedicated years to the department! I do things by the book, while they're accusing me of is bull shit!"

"That's what I want to tell you," he said. "A friend of mine from IA gave me some information on this whole thing. According to him the investigation was started by someone inside the department, they filed the initial complaint not an outside party."

I stopped and stared at him blankly. Someone from the department had filed the complaint? An officer I probably worked with before had caused this? I didn't want to believe it; cops stood together no matter what. Sure there were problems among divisions and ranks sometimes but most of the time it was routine. But then again I was one of the youngest officers promoted to the rank of detective and I was a woman which always pissed off the male officers. Especially when they had been around longer than me, it was a kick in the pants to have a fresh one out of the academy promoted before a seasoned vet.

"I know you don't like to hear it Jane, but that's the cold truth. IA is really pushing to take this to court, and take away your shield."

"This is crap, Cavanaugh!" I shouted angry now. "They have absolutely no physical evidence that supports what they've accused me of! Everything they have presented me with is just them fishing; it would barely stand up as circumstantial evidence!"

"So don't give them a reason to take you to court," Cavanaugh said calmly. "You're a damn good detective, so let them see that. Prove to them you're an irreplaceable asset to the BPD."

"And how do you suppose I do that?" I asked.

"I don't know Detective, save the pope of something," he replied with a shrug. "Just don't go and do anything reckless."

"So going to the prison to talk to Hoyt would be a bad idea?" I asked as I started to leave.

"It would be a really bad idea," Cavanaugh said immediately. "But who am I to stop you?"

When I walked back into Brick Korsak and Frost were still going through the security footage, but now they were after the first bomb went off before the first responders arrived. Frost stopped the video when he heard me coming up behind him and turned to me. Korsak stayed with his eyes on the computer screen looking at the footage he had playing there.

"Everything alright?" Frost asked.

"Yeah don't worry about it," I said brushing him off. "You guys find anything useful?"

Frost pushed his chair back to his desktop and pounded on the keyboard before pulling up video from before the blast. He froze image and played it frame by frame for me to see. It was brief, so I wasn't sure how they had seen it, but as the suspected killer got up to leave he turned and looked directly into the camera.

"We attempted to use the image for facial recognition but it's too distorted and he keeps a majority of his face hidden," Frost explained. "Unfortunately it doesn't get us any closer to identifying him."

"It looks as if he slipped up some and forgot that camera was positioned there," Korsak spoke up.

"No," I said shaking my head. "He did that intentionally. Whoever that guy was knew we would look at the security video. That right there was for us."

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

The lab had lifted prints that hadn't been destroyed by the explosion off the wheelchair while Maura had been out. Now she sat in front of a desktop as the print was run through AFIS, waiting for the results. It had been a slow day so far, the blade fragment she had found in the victims neck was still being examined and the autopsy hadn't wielded anything that would move the case forward. At that moment the only thing they had was the finger print and Maura wasn't sure if it would even come up with a match. Of course the problem was with running prints was the time it took to go through the database. AFIS was a large system database that housed prints of every convicted criminal in the United States, so the process of identifying one was a large task and even after it went through the prints there was no guarantee of a match.

Maura pushed herself out of her chair and headed to the elevator, but was stopped by one of the lab techs names Suzie before she could go anywhere. Suzie had worked under Maura for almost three years and was one of the more talented techs that Maura hired.

"Dr. Isles the results came back on the knife tip you found in the victims neck," she said, holding out a folder to Maura.

Maura took the folder and read over it quickly as she waited for Suzie to explain the findings to her.

"We found that the blade is made out of Carbon based steel, which is common in quality knives."

"Alright, that narrows down the search some," Maura nodded. "What else?"

"Using the dimensions and shape of the tip we were able to approximate the type of knife it came from," Suzie explained. "Our calculations tell us that the knife is probably a seven inch carbon steel clip-point blade, which is standard for a military issue Ka-Bar."

"Great work Suzie, Jane will be happy to know that," Maura said. "I have to run upstairs, could you keep an eye on AFIS in case it comes up with a match?"

"Sure Dr. Isles," Suzie nodded before heading back into the lab.

Maura pressed the up button and waited for the elevator to reach the floor. She was glad and relived she had something to give to Jane. Sometimes Maura worried that her and Jane's relationship interfered with the job and that it was what was causing the problems Jane had. But Maura knew that wasn't the case, but instead someone had filed a complaint against Jane and was breathing up Internal Affairs' neck to go on a fishing expedition to try and get her fired.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

Korsak greeted Maura when she came into brick, making the rest of us aware of us aware of her arrival. After the initial find of the image of our suspect looking into the camera Frost had been trying to run a program to get a better idea of the suspect's appearance. The program would take the camera's dimensions of the man and run the numbers to get an approximate height. Along with that Frost was working again on getting a match using the facial features we did have of the man. So far the facial recognition hadn't wielded any results and was beginning to look grim. Maura coming up to us with a folder in her hand gave me some hope we had something to make up for the lack of description and evidence we had.

"The lab finished testing the metal tip I found in the victims throat laceration," Maura said holding out the folder for me to take. "It came back as carbon based steel, common among most quality knives."

"So basically anyone with access to a knife is a suspect?" I asked coming off sarcastic.

"But the laceration was smooth meaning the knife used isn't serrated," Maura continued. "Also the blade was curved which narrows down the possible knives used. The knife used was most likely a standard military issue Ka-Bar knife according to Suzie's findings."

Maura handed me a picture of a Ka-Bar knife out of the file she held. The knife had a good size blade, at least seven inches, including the handle it appeared to be around 11 inches total. It wasn't the typical blade Hoyt and his apprentices used to slit their victims throat, but the killer this time wasn't a typical apprentice either- he differed in his method. I handed the image to Korsak and let him examine it before he handed it to Frost.

"So our killer could have military background?" Korsak said. "Just like Hoyt's last apprentice."

"Is there anyone who Hoyt can't get to?" I asked shaking my head.

We all fell silent, knowing completely that Hoyt was a master and getting people to do what he wanted.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

Suzie jumped up and ran over to the computer when it beeped signaling that it had found a match to the print lifted from the wheelchair. In the middle of the screen there was a box that read match found, and Suzie closed the box to look at the results. Her eyes widened slightly at the image that appeared in front of her. She was aware of who the man was having heard Detective Rizzoli and Dr. Isles talking about him from time to time. Involuntarily she shivered; the image gave her the creeps. Before she panicked to much she tried the results again, instantly getting the same answer. With her hands shaking slightly she printed out the results and almost ran out of the lab to the stairs. She had to give Dr. Isles the results face to face.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

I looked up from the file just in time to see Maura's lab assistant walking towards us. It struck me as odd that she would come up to deliver something to us when she could have just called up. In fact I don't think I had ever seen her outside the lab, so something had to be up. She walked right past me and straight to Maura and handed her the folder she had in her hands. The expression she had on her face was of confusion and fear.

"I checked the results twice," she said quickly. "But I kept getting the same result."

Maura glanced down at the papers and her face fell. She looked up at me and I could see it in her eyes that something was wrong.

"The prints lifted off of the wheelchair our victim was in came back with a match," she told me.

"That's good right?" I asked my heart pounding. "Who was it?"

"I don't know how but…" Maura faltered. "The prints came back as Charles Hoyt…"

"That can't be right, he's in prison," Korsak said angrily. "No way has Hoyt escaped, we would have heard about it."

"I don't know what to say about it Korsak," Maura said. "Suzie will run them again but I doubt the results will change."

My attention turned to the image of our suspect that was still on the flat screen. I knew he wasn't Hoyt; there was no scar from a flare on his face. For some reason Hoyt's print had ended up on that wheelchair in the coffee shop. I knew there had to be a reason for it to be there, just as there was a reason for the suspect to look directly into the security camera. If my hunch was right either Hoyt or his apprentice was planning something, and somehow either me or the entire homicide department was in the middle. Then on top of the case that might involve Hoyt was the Internal Affairs investigation on me. I didn't know how I could possible close this case if Hoyt was involved and Internal Affairs breathing down my neck.

"Call the prison, schedule an interview with Hoyt as soon as possible," I ordered Korsak.


	3. Chapter 3

**Here you go readers chapter 3! I'm excited about this chapter I had fun writing it and I'm having a good time writing this fanfic. I hope you enjoy, thanks for reading, please tell me what you think and as always enjoy.**

Chapter 3: Hoyt

Hoyt sat on the hard cot positioned against the wall in his cell and rested his head on the wall and his hands in his lap. Two days ago a guard had informed him that an officer was coming to talk to him; Hoyt couldn't help the smile that broke across his face. He had been out of the game awhile since Jane Rizzoli had put him in prison a second time, but now it looked like he was going to get another chance before he died. Hoyt's hands twitched at the thought of getting at Jane one last time. When he had escaped the first time he had ended up with a bullet hole through both hands and a burnt face, all courtesy of Jane. From deep in his chest he let out a chuckle of anticipation for things to come. He let the memories from before creep back into his mind- from the first time he had run into Detective Jane Rizzoli to the last time he attempted to kill her.

'_Now we match…'_

Those words echoed in his mind as did the gun shot that put the two identical scars on his palms. Things hadn't worked out well for him before, but this time things would be different, this time he would end Jane Rizzoli once and for all…

"Soon Jane…" Hoyt smirked.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

Maura sat at her desk nervously drumming her fingers on the cold wood. She wasn't too eager about going with Jane to speak with Hoyt. When she had first encountered Hoyt he had compared himself to her and she hated that; not because he was wrong but because he was right. Maura knew they differed greatly but there were some similarities they shared and that scared her. She knew going in Hoyt would say things to get to her and even though she knew that he had still managed to get in her head.

Along with her own fears Maura had the painful memories of how Hoyt's presence affected Jane. The memory of Jane standing on her front porch in the middle of the night, scared that Hoyt would come after her haunted Maura constantly. Jane was the strongest person Maura knew, and to see her trembling like she had been was frightening. Maura had done her best to comfort her best friend and convince her everything would be okay, but she hadn't been able to keep Hoyt from getting to Jane… She hadn't been able to stop him from hurting Jane again. That failure is what made Maura afraid that Hoyt would do something to Jane again before his execution. Maura hated guessing but she felt in her gut that this was a ploy to get to Jane, which Hoyt had come up with this plan in the confines of his cell and had somehow put it into motion.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

I sat at a high-top table in the precincts café, sipping a coffee and waiting for Maura to get here. Last night after my ma found out about my visit to go talk to Hoyt she had called one of my high school classmates, a good friend of mine, to talk some sense into me. Right now he sat across from me, his hands resting on the table and his eyes locked with mine. I stared back thinking of the first day we ran into each other since high school. Casey was a Lieutenant Colonel in the Army and had been home on leave the weekend I had been given a medal for my actions during the siege on headquarters. For a really short time we had been in an on-off relationship before Maura and I got together. After that we remained close friends and the first person my ma called when I was about to do something stupid.

"So Angela tells me you're going to go talk to the man who nearly killed you twice," Casey finally said with a sigh.

"I don't have much of a choice on this," I said. "If Hoyt knows anything he'll only tell me."

"What about Maura?" Casey asked. "She's talked with him before."

"I will never stick Maura in a room with him without me there again," I got defensive. "Hoyt didn't give her any answers; all he did was get under her skin and make her think they were alike."

Casey held up his hands in defense when he realized he had hit a nerve. He knew how protective I was over Maura especially after the Ian incident that had been the start of her and my relationship. Besides my team, my ma and Maura, Casey was the only one who knew all of the details behind Hoyt's attempts on my life. Casey was the only other person I confided in when it came to my emotional distress because he understood and wouldn't see me as anything different then the not-girly-crabby-social deviant he had once called me. Well really it was Maura who had informed me that a hero was actually a social deviant, but the not girly and crabby part was all Casey. He wasn't what I would consider a smooth operator.

"I knew I would never be able to talk you out of it," he said. "Listen I trust this isn't just you grabbing at straws hoping you'll get something out of Hoyt. I know you're doing this to show him you beat him."

"I haven't beaten him yet," I admitted. "The day he dies is the day I beat him."

Casey reached across the table and squeezed my hand before offering a smile. I smiled back, thankful that he was behind me on this.

"Just promise me you'll be careful," Casey said. "Don't let him get to you, and don't let those damned Internal Affairs people bring you down."

He smiled again and with a wink he stood up, getting ready to leave. I rose with him and watched him as he gathered his things. Before he turned to leave he pulled me into a goodbye hug; I hugged him back and gave him a peck on the cheek.

"Thank you Casey," I said as I pulled away. "I'm really grateful for everything you've done for me and Maura."

"Hey you two are family," Casey said. "Just because we're no longer together doesn't mean I'm going to leave your side. If you need anything, and I mean anything at all, you call me."

As he headed out the front doors he turned for a minute to wave; I waved back before I went back to the table we had both occupied to wait for Maura. I wasn't able to bring myself to go visit Hoyt by myself, and Maura was regrettably the only other person Hoyt would engage openly with. When Maura had first spoken with Hoyt he had put her under a microscope and made her believe things about herself that weren't true. But he had given her the information she had asked for, and that was something he would never do if Korsak or Frost went with me. The reason for that was simple- Hoyt's main target victim was women and I was the one victim that got away. Hoyt hated that I had escaped him twice, so he hit me where it hurt and that was Maura- it was the only thing he had over me.

"Sorry it took me so long," Maura said as she set her bag on the table. "I had to finish up something in the morgue."

"It's alright," I said smiling. "Ma had forced Casey to come and try and talk me out of going to talk to Hoyt."

"Oh? And how did that go?" she asked.

"Casey is behind me all the way on the IA investigation, but you know he share's ma's concerns," I replied.

Maura and I weren't in a rush to get to the prison our appointment being at two thirty and it being only one o'clock we weren't too rushed with it being a half an hour drive. I knew that the ride up would be short because of how much we were both dreading the meeting. It wasn't like going to talk with Hoyt would hurt our investigation any, it was certainly worth a shot. The only thing negative that might come out of it was IA using it against me in some way. I groaned to myself at the idea that any and all of my actions came back to bite me in the ass.

"Is everything alright Jane?" Maura asked, placing a hand on my shoulder.

"Just eager to get on with the case," I replied.

"That's why you groaned?" she asked raising an eyebrow.

"A groan of anticipation," I replied then realized that it sounded bad.

"Sure Jane, because there's no difference between an eager groan and a dreadful groan," Maura said with a smile breaking on her face.

"Please don't ever say that again in public… I'm begging you," I pleaded laughing.

Maura laughed with me glad to have a light hearted joking conversation before we headed into an uncomfortable situation. There was a lot was riding on us keeping calm during the questioning, if Hoyt knew he could mess with us he would and we would lose any valuable information he could give us. On top of that if I lost it while we were there and 'physically assaulted' him in some way my badge would be gone faster than I could blink. I had picked a bad time to suddenly be targeted for termination by someone in the department.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

Hoyt lifted his head from his pillow when he heard the loud buzzer of the security doors sound, signaling him that a guard had entered the area. Down the hall the heavy steps of the guard echoed down through Hoyt's cell, and they continued for another brief minute before coming to a sudden halt outside of the cell door. There was the sound of metal on metal as the slide in the door was pushed open, so Hoyt could see the waist of the guard. For a moment Hoyt remained where he was flat on the bed, but then he pushed himself up to rest on his elbows.

"Stand up and face the back of the cell, hands on the wall and legs spread out, you know the drill," the guard barked.

Hoyt obeyed and swung his legs off the bed before standing up and facing the back wall. He didn't put his hands on the wall immediately though, instead he just stood there smirking to himself. The guard let out an annoyed breath in response before slamming his night stick into the door.

"You deaf Hoyt? Put your hands on the wall and spread your legs."

Hoyt knew the guard wouldn't tolerate being ignored for very long, and he also knew that there was more than one guard outside the cell door. The guards never went into his cell without help; they all considered Hoyt extremely dangerous and a risk for escape. It was one thing Hoyt knew was because of his last escape when he faked appendicitis, it was a trick he could only use once. The guard cleared his throat impatiently waiting for Hoyt to do what he was told, so Hoyt flattened his hands on the cold cement walls and spread his legs so his feet were shoulder width apart.

Behind his the lock to his cell clicked and disengaged before the door itself was pulled open and three guards pooled in. A forth one remained at the door holding a night stick incase Hoyt tried to make a break for it. The guard who had ordered Hoyt against the wall was now patting him down checking for a weapon of any sort Hoyt might have on him. Finding nothing he rose and motioned for one of the other guards to move forward.

"Alright Hoyt put your hands behind your head and slowly turn around."

Hoyt said nothing as he raised his hands slowly and placed them on the back of his head and slowly turned around to face the four guards and the cell door. He watched as a young female guard put a pair of cuffs with a long chain around his ankles. Once she had them secured she stepped back and the second officer, a male moved up and put a harness around Hoyt's waist. It had a ring in the center to attach the ankle cuffs to and two hand cuffs, one on each side, to cuff his hands. The oldest guard, the one who had yelled at him, reached up and roughly took Hoyt's arms one by one and slammed the cuff around his wrist. Hoyt had been in those restraints before whenever someone from the Boston PD came to visit him he could guarantee he would have them on.

"Alright Harrison take him up to interrogation room 4," the door guard said to the older officer behind me.

"Let's go Hoyt," Harrison ordered shoving Hoyt forward. "Get moving."

Hoyt started forward, the chains of the cuffs clinking against each other as he moved. The door guard stepped back out of the way as Harrison pushed Hoyt into the hall, leading him in the direction they wanted him do go. The woman guard and the other male guard followed on Harrison's flanks, watching Hoyt closely. At the end of the hall the buzzer from before went off and the locks on the security door unlatched before another guard on the other side slide the door open for the four to continue on their way. Hoyt kept his hands close to the harness they had put on him and kept his focus on the hall ahead. In just a few minutes he would be face to face with the woman who had put him in here twice; the same woman who had shot through his hands and burnt his face. He smiled as Harrison and the other two guards handed him off to the two armed guards that had been waiting for him. They led him down another short corridor then stopped in front of a large metal door with a small window in the center at head level. Hoyt's smile grew as he stood against the wall across from the door; it was almost time for everything to be set in motion…

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

Maura sat next to me in the small interrogation room waiting for Hoyt. In the corners farthest from the door were two armed guards, both of them standing with their hands on the butts of their guns and there focus at the door. Maura and I had our backs to the door, so we were unable to see when Hoyt had arrived. But the way both of the guards tensed up told me he was outside the door. I didn't dare turn around if I did I risked Hoyt seeing how anxious I was about this. Instead I focused on the wall in front of me, doing my best to keep my composure and seem unconcerned about being in the same room as Hoyt. However I could tell I wasn't convincing Maura because I could feel her gaze on me, and when I looked over at her I could see she was concerned. I found her hand and quickly gave it a squeeze to reassure her I could do this, she squeezed my hand back before we both brought our hands back to rest on the table.

Finally the door behind us opened and I could hear the chains of his cuffs as he was lead around the table by two more guards. They shoved Hoyt down into the metal chair before slamming another pair of cuffs that were attached to a ring on the table onto his wrists and then uncuffing the pair attached to the harness around his waist. After they had him secured the two guards stepped back and positioned themselves in the unoccupied corners of the room. Hoyt looked up at me with a grin spreading across his burnt face sending a shiver down my spine. Underneath the table I felt Maura nudge my knee with hers as she tried to help me out some.

"Hello Jane, it's been awhile," Hoyt's voice was low and gravely.

"It hasn't been long enough," I said, lowly.

"You must have missed me some Jane," he said chuckling. "Why else would you be here?"

"Don't flatter yourself Hoyt, I'm here on official business," I said as Maura handed me a file she had been holding. "There's been a murder and I believe you can help us out on it."

"You can't honestly think that I had anything to do with it?" Hoyt almost laughed. "I've been in here for what a year now? And the only ones allowed to visit me are cops, lawyers and sometimes a reporter. I've had no access to the outside Jane."

"Being locked up didn't stop you before," I said. "You somehow managed to turn a soldier into a cold blooded killer."

Hoyt smiled and sat back in his chair, silently telling me that I was right. I kept a straight face as I opened up the file in front of me and pulled out the crime scene photos. Maura watched me as I flipped through a few of the images, making sure to keep them out of Hoyt's view to work him up. Slowly I set the photos down one by one starting with a far view and ending with a close up of the body. Hoyt reach forward and was just able to pick up one of the photos because of his restraints. He sat forward and rested his forearms on the table looking closer at the photo of the charred body, the chains clanking on the metal table top. After a second he reached with on hand to grab another close up of the victim, so he could compare them side by side. Then he dropped both of them back on the table, and looked up at me with his smile completely gone.

"That isn't my work," he said. "And it wouldn't be the work of an apprentice."

"We've found it matches your MO," I informed him.

"Based on what exactly Jane?" he asked. "The only thing that matches my work is the slit throat. I don't burn my victims."

"Show him the autopsy photos, Maura," I told Maura, not once breaking eye contact with Hoyt.

Maura reached down beside her and picked another folder of the floor and set it on the table before she opened it and pulled out the photos. Hoyt took them from her and started looking through them like he had done with the crime scene photos. I risked a glance over at her while Hoyt was busy examining the images; she caught my glance and offered a slight smile that immediately disappear as we both turned out attention back to Hoyt. Before he had started murdering people Hoyt had been a doctor, this made it easy for Maura to explain what her findings were and why we had connected the recent murder to him.

"The blade severed the victim's carotid artery making cause of death Exsanguination," Maura explained. "However for some reason I found blood in his lunge meaning he also died of aspiration."

"You're not convincing me Dr. Isles," Hoyt said still not buying it. "If you think seeing the autopsy photos is going to make a difference you're sadly mistaken."

"While concluding the autopsy I found two circular burn marks behind the victim's ear," Maura continued. "Around the two burn marks was bruising, which means they were caused peri-mortem and had been inflicted using a taser, much like what you used."

"And you were able to find these unusual burn marks under burnt skin?" Hoyt asked.

"The skin behind the ear was the only part of the victim's body that had escaped server burning during the time of the bombs destination."

Hoyt sat back in his chair again but kept his composure. I was sure he was close to giving us something to lead us to his apprentice. Or at the very least something that would confirm our suspicions of another Surgeon in Boston. But that wasn't what happened. A grin spread across Hoyt's face before he suddenly sat forward, getting as close to Maura and me as the table allowed. I kept a straight face but on the inside I was trembling as I was sent back to the memory of Hoyt's basement when he had almost taken my life the first time.

"I honestly thought you were better than that Dr. Isles," he laughed. "Allowing yourself to be lead by Jane into thinking that this has something to do with me."

"The evidence lead us to you," Maura combated.

"Admit it Maura, you let Jane lead you around and make you see what she wants you to see," he said sitting back.

Something in me finally boiled over and I lost it.

"Maua get out," I ordered.

"But Jane-" Maura looked at me confused.

"I said go, now," I ordered again. "Guards to, get out."

"Ma'am we were ordered to stay in the room at all times," on guard said.

"Then one of you stand in the door back to us," I said. "Don't worry I'm not going to touch him."

Maura was the first to leave and was followed by the four guards; the last one that had spoken to me stopped at the door and kept his back to us. Hoyt was visibly pleased with the change, and he laced his fingers together waiting for me to continue. I closed my eyes briefly to collect my thoughts and took a deep breath to calm myself down. When I looked back up at Hoyt he still had that sick smile of his on his face.

"Now Jane what could you possibly not want the guards and Dr. Isles to hear?" Hoyt finally asked.

"It's not that I don't want them to hear it's that I know you won't tell me anything unless they are out of the room," I replied.

"Then what is it you want to know Jane?" Hoyt asked. "I'm interested to see what you'll do with whatever information I might have."

"I want to know if our killer is your apprentice," I told him, leaning forward and lacing my fingers together. "Are we dealing with another Surgeon?"

"He is my apprentice, yes," Hoyt confirmed. "But that's all he is, another apprentice."

"Why now?" I continued. "What's the point?"

"There are just some things you won't understand," he replied. "I'm doing what I've always done and that's strike fear into people's core."

"We'll end this before your apprentice can get very far," I said fiercely.

"Are you sure of that Jane?" Hoyt smiled again and chuckled.

"You're finished Hoyt in four months you'll be dead and all that will be left of you is a fading memory," I growled.

"That's where you're wrong Jane," Hoyt stopped me. "This is part of my legacy, and by the looks of Dr. Isles over there my apprentice has already claimed his next victim."

I looked over my shoulder and saw Maura standing in front of the guard with a look on her face that told me that another victim had been found.

"Damnit," I cursed under my breath.

"The pieces are falling into place Jane," Hoyt's voice was low and mocking. "The real fun is just beginning."

I was unable to speak after the last word left his mouth; we had been right Hoyt had found another apprentice. From behind me I heard Maura say my name, but it was unclear to me if it was to urge me to hurry up or just trying to get my attention. I rose from my seat before shuffling all the images that were strewn all over the table back into their respected files. Hoyt continued to grin as he watched me start to lose my grip. It wasn't because he had another apprentice and it wasn't because he had mentioned pieces falling into place- because I didn't understand what he meant. The reason I was starting to lose my composure was because of what he hadn't said- he was planning something; the apprentice wasn't the whole story.

I turned from the table without any farther acknowledgement towards Hoyt, and went over to the guard to tell him we were done. The guard didn't need any verbal command from me he just turned around and went back into the room. I turned to one of the guards who had brought Hoyt to the interrogation room.

"Hoyt needs to be placed under constant surveillance, a guard placed outside his cell at all times, and I don't want any visitors to be able to speak to him," I told him. "I don't want there to be anyway for him to communicate with the outside, understood?"

"Yes Detective," the guard nodded before turning his back to me and entering the interrogation room himself.

"Let's go Maura," I said without looking at her. "What happened?"

"Another body was found about fifteen minutes ago," Maura said as she tried to keep pace with me. "Korsak didn't give me many details, just that this one wasn't burned."

"They sure it's the same guy?" I asked.

"Korsak said it matches Hoyt's motive almost completely," Maura replied finally catching up to me as we reached the security check.

When we reached the front of the prison I went over to an officer seated behind a desk to reclaim my gun and my badge, two things that were always left up front when being lead through the cell blocks. Maura waited next to me as I clipped my badge and my holster to my belt before leading her out to the prisons parking lot and to the unmarked police car I had driven. But as I was opening the driver side door Maura stopped me.

"What happened in there after you had me leave?"

"Hoyt told me what I needed to know,"

"The killer is another one of his apprentices?"

"Yeah but there's more to it than that, something Hoyt isn't going to tell me."

"Why? What did he say Jane?"

"He told me that this… whatever it's supposed to be is part of his legacy… He told me that the pieces are falling into place and things are just getting started."

"Could he be talking about more people he's molded into killers?"

"No, whatever Hoyt is planning has to do with him, but I don't know what it is that he's planning to do. For all I know he may be planning to escape again and finish what he started. It truthfully wouldn't surprise me if that is what he's planning."

Maura fell silent knowing I was right, if Hoyt was having another apprentice kill for him things couldn't be over. It had been my mistake to think Hoyt wouldn't have one last trick up his sleeve. I had hoped that as soon as his execution date came within a few months that I wouldn't have to see his face until he lay on the table waiting for the injections that would end his life and set me free of my nightmare. It should have been clear to me that Hoyt wouldn't die without taking my life; I was the only person who ever survived at the hands of the Surgeon and that made me his biggest failure and his master piece when he finally did end me.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

After the crime scene had been thoroughly looked over from top to bottom and Korsak, Frost and Cavanaugh had been filled in on Hoyt's questioning I ended up in the morgue with Maura as she performed the autopsy. The apprentice's second victim had been killed in his own house very much like the way Hoyt had done when he was killing. The victim had been bound to a chair and then gagged after he had be snuck up on and tased from behind, and then after he had regained consciousness his throat had been sliced. Cause of death seemed to be exclusively Exsanguination this time and so far Maura's findings supported that. I paced back and forth as she continued to poke and prod at the inside of our victim.

"I can't concentrate with you pacing like that," Maura said pressing down on the victim's heart to check for any abnormalities.

"Can't you go any faster?" I asked stupidly.

"You can't rush an autopsy Jane," she said looking up at me.

"I just want to catch this guy… I want him off the streets as soon as possible," I said rubbing my forehead. "I'm sorry I'm just worked up…"

Maura sighed as she stepped back from the slab and removed her surgical apron and gloves. She came around the slab to stand in front me and put her hands on my arms, forcing me to look her in the eyes.

"Jane, honey listen go home and get your thoughts together," she told me. "You can't work when you're like this."

"Maura come on," I whined. "I'd rather be here with you for the autopsy."

"Go home, take a break, and let me finish my report," Maura wasn't asking. "Go read a book; Steinbeck or Twain."

I groaned at her suggestion but obeyed, not wanting to have to deal with her complaining about me bothering her later. She kissed my check before she pushed me out of the morgue and went back to the autopsy. I was going to go back to the house, but I was not going to read and Twain. Once I got back I would grab a beer and go over what we had so far in the case, and hopefully get what Hoyt had said out of my head.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

I sat on the bed I shared with Maura hugging my knees. Over an hour ago I had left the precinct to take the night off; which of course meant reading over the case files until I was frustrated. Now I was just waiting for Maura to get home, mostly hoping she could somehow get my mind off things. From the time we had left the prison I hadn't been able to stop thinking about what Hoyt had said. Something about it was bothering me, and giving me a nagging feeling that I would find out soon enough what was going on. I knew there was something he was planning, but I couldn't figure out what and that meant I couldn't intercept him and keep him from executing at it. The thought of Hoyt escaping and hurting me was bad enough, but now Hoyt knew for sure about Maura and I which put her at risk and I couldn't stand that.

A knock on the bedroom door grabbed my attention and I looked up to see Maura standing there. I offered her a small smile before dropping my chin back to my knees and letting out a deep sigh. Maura came into the room slowly, fidgeting with her blouse the entire way and the look in her eyes was full of concern- she knew Hoyt's questioning was still bothering me. She came over to the bed and climbed in behind me before resting her chin on my shoulder and wrapping her arms around me. I kissed her hand and stretched out my legs so I could lean into her; she responded by gently kissing my neck.

"You're upset," she said.

"Is it really that obvious?" I asked sarcastically.

"You'll get him Jane, I know you will," she assured me.

"I'm not worried about that," I admitted. "I'm worried Hoyt will escape and hurt you… You're everything to me Maura I could never forgive myself if you got hurt."

"I won't get hurt," Maura pulled me closer and smiled. "In case you haven't heard I'm sort of dating this cop."

"I guess the roommate is always the last to know," I joked. "But seriously Maura I'm afraid that I might lose you."

Maura wasn't hearing any of it she pulled me down so I was lying on my back before she moved so she was on top of me.

"What are you doing?" I asked trying not to laugh.

"Making you shut up," she smiled as she leaned down and pulled me into a kiss.

Maura ran her hands down to the nape of my neck and pulled me forward, the kiss growing more intense after every second. My hands ran up and down her thighs begging for her to continue. In response Maura moved her lips from mine and started to gently kiss my jaw line slowly making her way down to my neck. I couldn't help the low moan that escaped me as Maura's hands found their way down the length of my body. But as I was about to switch positions with her I felt a sharp pain travel up my back.

"Stop, stop I'm on top of something," I pushed myself up.

"I am too but that isn't stopping me," Maura countered.

"No seriously, I think I'm on my badge," I said digging underneath me and pulling out my shield. "Must have come off my belt."

"Can't we just for one night forget about the case and the IA investigation and focus on each other?" Maura asked.

I set the badge on our bedside dresser before sitting up and wrapping my arms around her waist pulling her to me as I caught her lips. Maura ran her hands through my hair then slowly moved down my back until she came to the bottom of my shirt. Unceremoniously the shirt was discarded leaving my bare skin pressed against the soft fabric of her blouse. I pulled Maura's blouse over her head and tossed it in a corner; she was stunning and she was right I needed to get my mind off of the case.

"You win you have all of my attention," I smiled.

Maura responded with a chuckle and a smile. I pushed her up off of me and back onto the bed switching positions so I was on top. Hoyt could do whatever he wanted to do with me, but I wasn't about to let him hurt my relationship with Maura. I unclasped Maura's bra and pushed Hoyt out of my mind and focused all my attention on Maura.


	4. Chapter 4

**I'm so sorry it took so long but here you go. This chapter might lag some but things are about to pick up, I promise. The next chapter will hopefully be up faster than this one was. Thank you for reading, please tell me what you think and as always enjoy.**

Chapter 4: Killer

I yawned and stretched as I started to wake up before rolling over to face Maura and get away from the sun. Maura's bare back was towards me, making it so I couldn't tell is she was still asleep of not. I reached over to wrap my arm around her and pull myself closer to her. Maura responded by finding my hand with hers and chuckling, telling me she was awake. I kissed her neck before sitting up, pulling the sheets up to just under my shoulders before letting another yawn escape.

"Morning," I said.

"Morning," she said rolling over to face me. "Did you sleep alright?"

"For the amount of time I had to sleep, yes I did," I replied.

Maura was about to speak when the doorbell rang. I glanced at the hallway scrunching my eyebrows together, trying to figure out who would be ringing the doorbell at seven in the morning. If it had have just been me here I would have ignored it completely and waited for the person to leave. But Maura always answered the door, which in some cases was a bad thing to do. It wasn't that she didn't check to see who was at the door it was the fact if she knew them she let them in and sometimes I just didn't want to see my ma.

"Are you going to get the door?" she asked sitting up.

"Really Maura?" I asked, referring to the fact I was naked.

"Then put a robe on," she sighed. "Fine, fine I'll go, but only because I know you won't."

Maura slipped out of the bed and crossed the room, before grabbing a robe from a chair and pulling it on to cover her bare skin. She tied it shut before shooting me a look and walking out of the room to answer the door. I didn't wait to hear the front door open to jump out of the bed and search for something to wear. The slack I wore yesterday were still wearable so I grabbed them from the floor and slipped into them before finding a clean bra and undershirt to pull on. As I was pulling the undershirt over my head I heard a familiar voice great Maura. Ignoring the fact I was only partially dressed I walked out of the room into the hallway just as Casey stepped through the door into the foyer.

He was dressed in running shorts and an old t-shirt, looking like he had been out running because of the huge sweat stain on the shirt. I couldn't help the grin that spread across my face when I saw the look on his face as he tried not to stare at Maura.

"What are you doing here?" I asked as I followed the two into the kitchen.

"Maura's house is on my jogging route, so I thought I'd drop in and check on you two," he replied taking a seat on one of the barstools.

"My ma called you again didn't she?" I asked him not believing him at all.

"I think the better question would be why is my house on your jogging route?" Maura smiled.

"The park is down the street and this is the longest route to it," Casey defended himself before he turned to me. "Yeah she did. I really need to stop answering my phone when she calls."

"I'll talk to her when we get to work," I told him. "She really needs to stay out of my business and stop bothering you."

"I should have asked this before but I didn't come by at a bad time did I?" he asked throwing a glance at Maura.

"We just got up," Maura replied. "Don't worry you didn't interrupt anything."

Casey's face grew hot at the thought of having interrupted Maura and me. I pushed away from the counter to get a mug out of the cabinet, needing my morning fix of coffee. Casey tapped his fingers against the countertop slightly uncomfortable from dropping in on Maura and I in the early morning. Not only that but he was probably uncomfortable seeing me half-dressed and Maura being only in a robe. He may have been my ex and he may have been a Lieutenant Colonel in the military but he was still a guy.

"Can I get you some coffee Casey?" I asked glancing over my shoulder at him.

"Might as well," he shrugged. "Doesn't look like I'll be finishing my run today."

I reached up to dig behind some spices Maura had in the cabinet to pull out the instant coffee I had hidden. Maura instantly shot me the _'what the hell is instant coffee doing in my house?'_ look but said nothing to the fact. Casey glanced behind him at the door completely oblivious to the small exchange, but smiled when he saw the coffee would be a quick fix. I wasn't the only one who had to deal with Maura's coffee that took forever to make; on more than one occasion Casey had been held up by it. Safe to say both of us were partial to instant coffee, but that was probably more of a law enforcement/ military kind of thing than anything else. I glanced at the stove clock as I prepared the two cups of instant coffee. It was 7:15 meaning Maura and I had to leave in forty-five minutes.

"Shouldn't you go shower?" I asked Maura as I handed a steaming cup to Casey.

"It can wait until Casey leaves," she replied.

"Either take the half an hour you have now or you won't be able to take one," I warned her.

"I hate you sometimes," she sighed as she rose. "I'll see you later Casey."

"Yeah, definitely see you later," Casey nodded smiling slightly.

Maura kissed my cheek before walking out of the room, leaving Casey and I alone. We sat for a while just sipping on the piping coffee, not having anything to say to one another. I wanted very badly to talk to him about Hoyt; I needed him to be aware of the possible dangers that the case might bring. He had been one person I confided in about Hoyt because I trusted him and needed someone who would look at it objectively and not treat me like I was shell shocked. One of the best things about Casey is he didn't question my ability or how much emotional distress I had been going through; he was completely by my side for any decision I made, even if he didn't like it. Casey understood the sense of duty police officers had to the citizens in their district mostly because he had the same sense of duty to the military- to serve and protect- that's what we did, and sometimes Maura didn't understand why I did some pretty stupid things. Those were the situations that I needed someone who had the same experiences to talk to.

"I need you to promise me something Casey," I said avoiding eye contact.

"Yeah anything Jane," Casey said happy to do anything I asked. "What do you need?"

"You know Maura and I went to talk to Hoyt yesterday," I started feeling my heart start to pound against my chest. "He gave us very little information but he did confirm that he has another apprentice…"

"I take it the apprentice isn't what you're worried about?" Casey said wanting confirmation.

"Hoyt told me that it wasn't over," I felt a lump form in my throat. "I know he wasn't talking about his apprentice… He was talking about me; Hoyt still has plans for me, and I know he's planning something…"

"Where do I come into all of this?" Casey asked giving me a concerned look. "Do you think he's planning to escape?"

"I don't know Casey. If he was going to escape he would have to come up with something elaborate to get out- not fake appendicitis," I explained and then dropped my gaze to the coffee in my cup trying to form my next words. "If Hoyt does escape- hell even if he doesn't- anyone involved with me is in danger, including Maura. I need you to promise me if Hoyt ever manages to get out that you'll protect Maura with your life… Make sure she's safe."

"Jane, Hoyt is not going to escape," Casey tried and failed to reassure me.

"Listen to me Casey," I said forcefully. "I know you'll argue with me if I say Maura's life is more important than my own, but if anything were to happen to her because of me I would never be able to forgive myself. All I'm asking you to do is to protect her, not to allow me to go on a suicide mission if Hoyt were able to escape."

Casey didn't respond but he kept his gaze locked on me as his body tensed and his jaw locked in a grimace. The only sound keeping the room for udder silence was the loud trickling of water coming from the shower. I found myself unable to look him in the eye after asking so much of him. Casey would never compromise my safety or Maura's safety and he would go to great lengths to ensure that we were safe. After a minute he swallowed the rest of his coffee in two large gulps and then rose from the barstool.

"You want me to stay here tonight?" he asked. "I can take up residence on the couch."

He offered a slight smile to me and I couldn't help but laugh at his attempt to make me feel better.

"Yeah Casey because I need you sleeping twelve feet away from Maura and I's room," I said with a chuckle.

"Yeah yeah," he waved it off as we both headed towards the door. "If you change your mind your mother knows where to find me."

I burst into another laugh at Casey's attempt at humor, having him stay here was the last thing on my mind. My ma had walked in on me and him before and she had walked in on Maura and I multiple times- the last thing I needed was my ex-boyfriend walking in on me and my current girlfriend.

"I mean I wouldn't be against watching over you and the doctor…"

"Goodbye Casey," I said opening up the door.

"I mean does she look as good without clothes as she does with them?"

"Would you get out?" I laughed shoving him out the door playfully.

Casey laughed with me but the moment was brief; he hugged me tightly before turning around and heading down the driveway. I closed the door behind him and let out a breath I hadn't realized I had been holding. There was one thing taken care of, now I just needed to make sure my last will and testament was up to date. I smiled slightly at the thought as I pushed myself away from the door and headed back to the bathroom. The water was still running which meant Maura was still in the shower. Without knocking I opened the door and walked in, a large grin breaking across my face when I saw Maura through the clear glass sliding shower doors. Maura's response only added to my amusement as she looked over at me once and after having to do a double take she reacted by covering her bare breasts with her arms.

"Jesus Jane, don't you knock?" she cried.

"It's not like I haven't seen you naked before Maur," I reminded her. "Besides Casey just left, so it's not like he's gonna get a peak."

"I find you completely unbelievable sometimes Detective Rizzoli," Maura said rolling her eyes. "But I also find you completely irresistible and that being said would you be so kind as to hand me a towel?"

I crossed the room in a few swift steps and plucked a towel off the towel rack, holding it in on hand just outside the shower door. Maura stepped under the shower head and ran her fingers through her tangled locks one last time before turning off the water. As she slid open the glass door and reached for the towel I held out for her, I pulled it away from her just to mess with her.

"Not quick enough Dr. Isles," I smirked. "You're going to have to work for it now."

"That isn't even remotely funny," Maura said shooting me a glair. "Give me the towel."

"Nah," I said with a shrug. "If you want it then you have to get it."

"You'll pay for this later Jane," Maura said scowling.

I intended to keep my gaze from her to really get on her nerves but I found myself unable to avoid admiring her perfect figure, made even more irresistible by the water soaking her skin. Maura smirked at my inability to keep from gawking at her as she plucked the towel out of my hand and wrapped it around her, leaving me to stare at her legs- toned by years of yoga and walking in heels. _God damn… I see this woman day in and day out with and without clothes, and she still manages to do this to me…_ My heart raced, like it always did around her, as I snaked my arm around her waist and pulled her to me, not caring that she was still dripping wet.

"We have work."

"Korsak and Frost can handle it. We haven't gotten anywhere with the case, being late won't be too bad."

"Except that we have that fund raiser to attend later tonight."

"You mean you have to attend."

"You're my plus one Jane."

Maura wrapped wet arms around my neck and stood up on her toes to see me eye to eye. She knew she didn't have to do much to convince me, as long as she was standing in front of me in only a towel I would go. I caught her lips as she broke into a smile; our tongues explored one another for a long passionate minute, both of us completely forgetting about everything else. Maura was the one who broke away first, offering up a smile as she pulled out of my grasp and started out of the room. An affectionate smack on the ass made me jump in surprise, and turn around to see Maura smiling to herself and chuckling.

"Does that mean I don't have to go?" I asked as I turned to follow her.

All she did was laugh.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

Today hadn't gone as I had hoped it would, it didn't even come close. No physical evidence had been recovered from the second crime scene, and no evidence was found on the second victim besides what we had expected to find. Korsak, Frost and I had been working to at least get a start to our suspect list, a list that contained over 150 names at the current time. The list consisted of people with histories of assault with a deadly weapon (weapon of choice being a knife), military history (as much as I hated to do that), and people with ties to Hoyt. All that we knew for sure is that we had another Surgeon on our hands. The knife made us lean more towards the military sense it was a standard issue Ka-bar, but we had found you could get one almost anywhere.

But that wasn't the problem. The problem was internal affairs breathing down my neck and questioning everything I did. My actions in regards to Hoyt had been a red flag for the investigators, causing them to feel the need of farther review. Immediately following the questioning IA had terminated my privileges regarding Hoyt; I was no longer allowed to speak to him. I had also been tipped off that Maura had been under investigation as well because of her involvement with me. The second we entered the station they took Maura for questioning about God knows what, and then had the nerve to tell her she was obligated to keep her mouth shut about what they had asked her. I wanted more than anything to know what they had asked her, but I wasn't willing to jeopardize her job for the information. It was completely fair to say that IA was backing me into a corner and trying to break me. They wanted my badge and wouldn't stop until they got it- raising the question as to who was out to get me.

"_The pieces are falling into place Jane…"_

Hoyt wasn't lying. Even without him and his apprentice I was close to losing my job, whether it was his doing or not things were coming together. I was fighting a two front war and currently I was losing horribly.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

_Six hours later at fundraiser…_

Maura held the glass filed with golden liquid as she made her way through the large mass of people (mostly doctors) to introduce me to an old friend of hers. I was less than interested to spend an evening talking to doctors who thought they had to talk down to a cop. It wouldn't have been so bad if they didn't call me Ms. Rizzoli and I would have to correct them that it's Detective Rizzoli; they always gave me a look before completely ignoring me all together. Sometimes I hated the things Maura drug me too because she was so oblivious to her colleagues looking down at me because I didn't have a PhD. But who needs a PhD when you have a 9mm Glock on your belt constantly? Not me, that was for sure. Cops and doctors never seemed to get along; doctors always were lawyering up and asking for a warrant- no matter what the reason may be.

"Maura c'mon slow down!" I groaned after I bumped into someone. "I don't want to meet this guy…"

"You'll love him I promise you," was all she said.

"Is he another walking dictionary like you?" I asked.

"No," she replied grinning. "He's actually another you, except he has a medical degree."

"Was that supposed to be an insult?" I asked.

"You take it however you want to," Maura said coming to a stop.

For a second I thought she was just screwing with me, but then a man tall in stature and in his late thirties caught sight of Maura and a grin spread across his face. He greeted Maura by taking her free hand and kissing it gently before pulling her into something of a bear hug. I stood there awkwardly with my hands at my sides, waiting to either be introduced or find a chance to slip away. When the doctor finally did notice me his grin fell slightly as he gave me a once over, trying to place me or get an incorrect idea of me. The moment didn't last as he turned his attention back to Maura and completely pushed me out of his mind.

"You're looking beautiful as ever Maura," he said with a thick accent I couldn't place. "It's great to see you again."

"It's great to see you as well Terrence," Maura smiled. "How are things going in New York?"

"The medical examiner's office is busy this time of year for some reason," Terrence replied. "Not as busy as around the holiday's but its close. It's pretty swamped but I had to get off to attend tonight. If not for the fundraiser than to run into you."

I rolled my eyes at his weak attempt to flirt with her; he was an idiot and I was insulted by Maura comparing him to me. It would have been great if I could have stayed at the department and worked on the case more instead of wasting my time being brushed off by some stuck up New York coroner. Maura seemed to sense my annoyance and quickly redirected her conversation.

"Um Terrence I would like you to meet Jane Rizzoli," Maura said holding out her hand to me to come closer. "Jane this is Dr. Terrence Cooper, we went to medical school together."

"Ah good to meet you Ms. Rizzoli," Terrence said holding out a hand.

"It's Detective Rizzoli," I said crossing my arms and ignoring his hand.

"I apologize Detective," he said dropping his hand. "So you're a cop?"

"Homicide Detective really," I said. "Maura and I work closely together."

"I guess that's why she brought you," Terrence offered Maura a smile but kept a straight face when looking at me. "You don't look like someone who would come to something like this."

My eye twitched at the remark. I knew he probably didn't mean it the way it came across, but I sure took it that way. Maura caught my agitation and was about to try and calm the situation; since it was obvious Terrence and I were like oil and water. I wasn't going to have it; I needed to cool off myself.

"I'm willing to do things for Maura that I wouldn't normally do myself," I said calmly. "Just do me a favor and knock it off with the flirting; she's taken."

As I turned and walked away from them Terrence face showed total confusion. Maura called after me for a second but didn't follow, probably understanding I just needed a minute away from her colleagues. I made my way through the crowd over to a back wall where I found a bench and dropped down breathing a sigh of frustration. Things with Maura weren't always easy, we argued a lot and had nights where we couldn't even be in the same house where I ended up sleeping in her office at the morgue. I knew all of Maura's colleagues were doctors or people from a higher social standing then I was and that didn't bother me. My friends and colleagues were cops and blue collar people- I didn't grow up with a privileged background like she did and sometimes she forgot that. She was only trying to expose me to other things like I did with her and beer when all she drank was wine. I had no right to be angry at her for introducing me to someone she went to school with- I did it to her all the time.

I started to count my breath as I let it sink in that I had just over reacted to a small miscommunication; it was a hazard of being a cop, any discrepancy I felt there was I questioned it and took it with a grain of salt. As I watched the masses of people mingle I noticed a man, slightly less made up as the rest, sit down next to me. He didn't strike me as a doctor or lawyer, more of a news reporter or school teacher. I took in his appearance; average height, medium build, hands that looked callused probably from years of hard work, his hair was shaved close to his head but long enough to see the honey colored hair, he had a five o'clock shadow that was close to becoming a full beard. His clothing matched the dress-code for the fundraiser of semi-formal, wearing a grey tux suit with white shirt with no tie, and his shoes were polished but looked like they had been through years of abuse.

"You here alone?" he asked his voice sounding like what someone would expect from a sports announcer.

"No," I replied suddenly on guard. "I'm here with a date."

"Lucky guy," he said.

"Lucky girl," I corrected him.

"I see," he said nodding to himself. "I guess there's no point in trying to hit on you is there?"

"Guess not," I replied smiling briefly. "Besides I usually don't take offers from strange men."

"I'm Joey Miles; you might have seen me on TV… I'm a reporter for the Boston 7 News," he introduced himself. "I'm not so strange now. How about you? You strike me as a lawyer."

"No defiantly not a lawyer," I laughed. "I'm Detective Jane-"

"Detective Jane Rizzoli, Boston Homicide," he finished my sentence. "I thought you looked familiar. Man I didn't imagine I'd ever run into you at something like this. Believe me when I say I'd much rather bother you here than at a crime scene."

"I thought it was your guy's job to fuck with the cops constantly," I mused. "Why? Are you covering our current case?"

"No, no one of my colleagues caught the story. I got stuck with this one- I'm on a break," he replied. "But my boss would kill me if I didn't at least attempt to get a statement from you."

"You should know that I can't discuss an ongoing investigation- either on or off the record," I reminded him.

"There's gotta be something Detective," he pushed smiling. "Any suspects or leads? Anything at all- I swear I won't run it without the department's permission"

"Fine I'll humor you," I sighed. "Suspect list is huge no definite person yet, as for leads nothing really."

"I heard it was a Surgeon copycat killer again," he said.

"I can't confirm or deny that," I said. "Talk to my Lieutenant."

Unlike most reporters, Joey was friendly and easy to talk to instead of someone you wanted to pistol whip to get them the shut up, and I appreciated his honesty. But as we continued to talk I felt a hand on my shoulder and looked up to see Maura standing over me, an apologetic look on her face. I smiled at her and rose to introduce her to Joey Miles; Maura hated reporters more than I did so this was fun for me.

"Maura this is Joey Miles, a reporter for the Boston 7 news. Joey this is Dr. Maura Isles, Chief Medical Examiner and the one who brought me."

"Great to meet you Dr. Isles, I'm a fan of your work." Joey said as he shook Maura's hand and flashed a reporter's smile.

"It's great to meet you two," Maura said smiling. "What brings you to the event? Work?"

"Yeah somehow I managed to pull this instead of the murder investigation," Joey shrugged and looked at his watch. "Speaking of work I need to get back to mine. It was great talking to you Detective and great meeting you Dr. Isles."

Seconds later I lost sight of him in the crowd. Maura laced her fingers through mine and smiled up at me. I smiled back, completely forgetting that I was absolutely out of my element in the crowd. I guess not all reporters were blood sucking leeches like most played them out to be.

"How much longer is this?" I asked.

"An hour or two," Maura replied. "I'm sorry about Terrence; he can be rude sometimes."

"Don't worry about it Maur," I waved it off. "But you owe me big time."

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

Joey Miles had been through a lot in his years as a field reporter for the Boston 7 News. He had interviewed pissed off district attorneys, over-zealous defense attorneys, ex-convicts, serial killers, death-row inmates, cops and citizens. But none of them ever made in impact on him, not the way Charles Hoyt AKA 'The Surgeon' had. The first time Joey had ever spoken to Hoyt he had become obsessed with his case, and every little piece of it; including one Detective Jane Rizzoli. Things had changed in the past couple of years since he first met Hoyt; Joey found himself bored with the life he had made for himself, and he had found a way to spice things up. Joey Miles wouldn't just be the reporter from Boston 7; he had found a way to be much more to the city.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

Connor Sutherland, a security guard for the prison Hoyt was housed in answered his phone as he threw his gear in his beat up locker. After three seconds he hung up and pulled another cell out then dialed the number he had memorized weeks ago.

"Make it fast," he said waiting for the other man to speak.

"I ran into the Detective today," the voice that came over the receiver was broken up because of interference. "We had a nice chat. It looks like we're still in the clear."

"Perfect," Connor said hanging up his security jacket.

"Does he think it's time to make our move?" the other man asked.

Connor thought for a second back to his earlier conversation to Charles Hoyt- _you can't rush delicate matters Connor; remind Joey of that_.

"No, the big man wants you to hit one or two more," Connor replied. "Score a few more points before you check in."

"Really? Where are you in the locker room?" the other man laughed.

"Shut up, long day at work you wouldn't understand," Connor growled. "You have the list, go by the list. I have things to get in order on my end and then we'll move forward alright? We have to do this by the books."

Connor heard a scoff on the other line before it disconnected. He hated that Miles kid to no end, but Hoyt had found him useful. It was true that the media got closer to the police than the security guards did. Conner grabbed his motorcycle jacket and slammed the locker door. He had to plan Hoyt's next move by himself. The layout of the prison was full of long halls that would cause them to get caught; Connor's job was to find the fastest way out as well as keeping in mind a vehicle needed to be within his reach after the breach of security.


	5. Chapter 5

**Here is chapter 5 sorry it took a little longer than I had hoped but I'm working as fast as I can. I will have chapter 6 done and up within the next week or so. I promise things are about to get more interesting. Thank you so much for reading and sticking with me, please don't be afraid to tell me what you think, and as always enjoy.**

Chapter 5: Murder

I stood over Maura as she examined the throat laceration on who was now our third victim. Three victims and the only evidence or leads we had were the prints of Charles Hoyt (currently serving life in prison awaiting the death penalty) and the tip of a Ka-bar knife (standard issue in the military as well as a collectable to some). The crime scene itself didn't offer up much either, it appeared that the killer had wiped all of the surfaces before he had left. Everything was so familiar to me as I glanced around the oversized bedroom; it was eerily close to Hoyt's work before we had arrested him the first time. The entire Homicide Department was starting to feel the heat of the media coverage, but no one was more eager to catch this killer as I was. It may seem selfish that I want to put this guy away to save my career, and it probably was, however I did want this guy to go away for what he'd done.

"The wound appears to have been caused by the same weapon that was used on the other victims," Maura noted. "I won't know until I get him back to the morgue, but the wound suggests the killer was standing in front of the victim when he slit his throat."

"So our guy is probably covered in blood from the arterial spray," I said thinking back to what I had learned in forensics.

"Hypothetically yes, he would be," Maura agreed. "The laceration goes from shallow too deep as it moves right to left. If the killer stood in front of his and pulled the knife across his throat it would be safe to assume your killer is right handed."

"I'll add that to the description," Korsak said as he came up behind me. "Crime scene crew found some prints and a shit load of partials. Hopefully we can get a hit off of AFIS."

I nodded at him before I turned back to scan over the room searching for any imperfection. What I saw was a very clean living space, everything perfect and in its place. Some people may have mistaken that for the killer cleaning up but if you looked pass that and into the other rooms they were the exact same way- clean. There was something though that didn't add up, something I couldn't quite figure out what was so off and it was bothering me.

"Did our vic have a dog?" I asked suddenly.

"Yeah looks like he had a lab," Korsak said pointing at a picture next to Frost.

"First responders never mentioned the pooch," Frost remarked. "And other than the pictures it doesn't appear that a dog lived here at all."

"So where did the dog go?" I asked.

"I'll call animal control and tell them to keep an eye out for a lab…" Frost said as he pulled out his cell.

"Maura can you give me a time of death?" I turned back to Maura when Korsak's phone rang.

"Lividity has set and he is in full rigor," Maura told me. "I'd say no more than a day ago and no less then twelve hours ago."

I nodded then turned to the bathroom that connected to the bedroom. Something was still bothering me about the crime scene and whatever it was seemed to be pulling me in the direction of the bathroom. When we had first arrived at the scene the bathroom had been gone over thoroughly that was basic procedure, but nothing had been found. Call it a guess but I knew that we had missed something on our initial search of the room. I stood in the doorway of the bathroom and pulled on the latex gloves that kept me from contaminating the scene. _What did we miss?_ Nothing around the sink besides the left over fingerprinting powder, the shower was clean with no trace of blood or anything in the drain. My darting eyes came to rest at the toilet; more often than not people forgot to check the tank, which usually lead to missing pieces of crucial evidence in a case. From the way the led sat, slightly off center causing it to slant; I thought it was completely possible that when one of the crime lab guys processed the bathroom they had just not placed it back the way it should be. But I soon realized they would have never been that sloppy- we had somehow missed that tank being out of place.

I quickly moved all the way into the bathroom and over to the toilet so I stood over it, looking down at it. _How the hell did we miss this? _Shaking my head I wrapped my fingers around the edges of the tank cover and lifted it off, being careful to place it on its top on the sink counter. After making sure there was nothing around the edges of the tank I set my knee on the toilet lid and leaned forward to get a closer look at the inside. Immediately my heart skipped a beat as my eyes fell on what was at the bottom of the tank. _This is to fucking unbelievable…_ I thought as I pushed up my sleeve and dipped my hand into the cold water, taking only a minute to extract the object. In my hand was the weapon used in each of the murders. I didn't need for the lab to run any tests on it, they wouldn't find anything anyway the water had destroyed any trace that may have been on the knife. It was obvious this was the murder weapon because it was a Ka-Bar and the tip was missing. If I had one of the lab tech put the small tip we had found in our first victims neck they would find it was a match. The question is why had the killer ditched the knife here?

"Hey can I get an evidence bag?" I called out for one of the crime scene guys.

One of the crime scene guys that had been dusting for prints came into the room holding a plastic bag in his hand that read evidence. He opened it and held it out for me so I could set the knife in it. Once the bag was sealed I went to go find Korsak and Frost to show them what I had found. They were both in the downstairs hallway talking to another crime scene tech, but the conversation died when they saw me. I went up to them and held out the knife in the evidence bag; they both looked at me with surprised faces.

"Where'd you find that?" Frost asked taking it.

"Tank of the toilet, there probably won't be any trace on it but no doubt it's out weapon," I said.

"Let's hope him dumping the murder weapon mean's he's done," Korsak said. "But right now we have another homicide about two blocks from here. From what I gathered it's pretty gruesome."

"Connected to this at all?" I asked.

"They didn't give me any details," Korsak shrugged. "Cavanaugh requested us to take a look just in case it is connected. You know how things work."

"Yeah you two go ahead and head over I'll help Maura finish things up here and we'll be over," I said. "Hopefully she's ready to release the body."

"Dr. Isles likes to take her time," Korsak laughed.

He handed the evidence bag to one of the techs before he and Frost headed out the front door and over to the second crime scene. I headed back up the stairs to get Maura and found her pulling off her latex gloves heading out of the room. She stopped when she saw me and brushed a stray hair out of her face before she spoke.

"I just released the body," she said. "There isn't much else I can learn without performing the autopsy."

"Gotcha, but that'll have to wait," I told her. "Apparently we have another crime scene a block or two from here, we were asked to go over and check it out. Korsak and Frost are already headed over."

"You waited for me?" Maura flashed a smile as she followed me back down the stairs.

"We came in the same car," I reminded her. "I could have just left you here."

"Point taken," she agreed.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

I'd seen a lot of different ways someone could kill a person in my time as a cop, but murders involving knives were the worst. It was probably because I had been under a blade before when I had almost been killed by a creep. The way the victim in front of us had died was by a knife, but it was to a much greater extent than the other three victims. He had been stabbed repeatedly along with a deep throat laceration, and then there was his leg burnt severely an excruciating injury that was pointless in the death of the man. It didn't look like the work of Hoyt's apprentice, but we couldn't rule anything out until Maura performed the autopsy. She would have a lot of work to do back at the morgue with two victims to process, but I knew she enjoyed her work. She would have a field day trying to determine TOD, COD and whatever else it was she did. But she would also have to determine whether or not this murder was connected to the other murders, since the MO didn't match. Of course that's what was so strange about the first murder since the man had been severely burned, that matched here but it was only one limb, and then the stab wounds didn't match anything at all they were almost completely frenzied.

"Cause of death is most likely exsanguination," Maura was already examining the victim. "It appears that the throat laceration was what killed him, all the stab wounds after that are over-kill."

"Can you tell what knife was used?" I asked.

"I'll have to take casts of the puncture wounds when we get back to the morgue to be sure," she replied. "Jane you don't think the killer could have escalated to this so quickly do you?"

"No," I replied sighing. "If it's him this was meant to be a warning…"

"A warning for what?" Frost asked his back towards us.

"I couldn't tell you," I said.

Korsak sighed as he turned his back to the victim and me to head into the adjoining room. Frost followed him being unable to stomach the smell that radiated from the dead man tied to the chair. I kneeled down next to Maura and listened as she went over what she saw, even though she wasn't talking to me. While I listened to her take mental notes over the condition of the body and so on I took mental note myself, looking at every inch of the victim and trying to piece together what had happened.

The first thing I noticed was the arterial spray that covered the floor and wall; this meant that the damage to the neck was what killed him. Then my sight moved down to the victim's chest with the multiple stab wounds that went with it. On first glance it appeared that whoever had done this had stabbed the victim in attempt to kill him and failed, but on closer inspection I realized that there was almost no blood that came from the wounds. Maura would have to confirm it back at the morgue, but it looked like the stab wounds had been done after he had bleed out. Lastly I looked at his burnt leg, trying to ignore the terrible smell. I wasn't an expert with burn marks so I couldn't tell if it had been done before or after the victim had bleed out, but I did notice how it was only concentrated on that one leg. Right now though I wasn't interested in the burn on the leg I was interested in finding the Taser burns behind the ear.

"Did you hear me Jane?" Maura asked breaking me from my concentration.

"I'm sorry, what?" I asked completely lost.

"I asked if you noticed the void in the arterial spray on the floor," she repeated.

"Oh yeah…" I said looking down at the void. "Looks like the killer stood in front of the victim when he slit his throat and caused it."

"If that's true he's most likely covered in blood," Maura said.

"Just like the killer from the other crime scene," I sighed. "He might have dumped the clothes somewhere. I don't think he would be stupid enough to walk out in broad daylight with them on."

"There are a lot of places the clothes could be," Maura said.

"Yeah but that's what we have patrol officers for," I smiled. "I'll call Frankie- he just loves going dumpster diving."

"There isn't any sign of forced entry," Korsak told me leaning into the room. "Suggests that the victim knew his killer."

"We should get a list of all of the victim's acquaintances," I said. "Has anyone checked the ID of him yet?"

"We're working on it," Korsak said.

"Jane there are uniform burn marks behind his ear," Maura looked up at me. "It's most likely connected to the others."

"The apprentice then," I muttered. "Alright, finish up here and get back to the morgue I want the autopsy reports on my desk ASAP. I'll catch a ride with Korsak and Frost."

Maura nodded and went to get a body bag and some muscle to prep the body for transport. I went out to the dining room where Korsak and Frost were standing, talking about something that I couldn't quite make out. When I stopped next to them Frost handed me an evidence bag, inside of it was a small piece of paper. On it was scribbled writing what was difficult to make out, but I knew exactly what it said. _You lose._ My heart sank as the words sunk in. Korsak and Frost both seemed to notice the immediate change in my demeanor because they both looked at me with concern.

"That mean something to you Janie?" Korsak asked.

"Yeah… it does," I said. "I really wish it didn't."

"What is it then?" Frost asked.

"Hoyt… When we went to question him I promised him I'd catch his apprentice before he killed again…" I said. "He's killed three people since then, and something tells me that us losing is Hoyt telling us something is about to happen."

"What more could he do?" Frost asked angrily. "He's in a prison cell and isn't allowed visitors."

"Hoyt is smart if he was denied something he would find a way to get it," Korsak said.

"Yeah take me for example," I said half-heartedly. "He was denied my life once and he escaped from prison to come after me again."

We all fell silent after the remark, realizing that Hoyt was finally making a third and final attempt at my life. I knew Hoyt's apprentice wouldn't come after me without Hoyt, which meant until Hoyt made an attempt to escape. When that happened I would be in danger, and so would everyone else who was involved with me. Sad thing was Hoyt escaping would probably help me in the end with the Internal Affair's investigation. Right now however I couldn't worry about the chance Hoyt might try to escape. I had to worry about the case and leave Hoyt up to the prison guards; I couldn't get any more involved with it.

"Call the prison and warn them that Hoyt might try to make a move. For now let's focus on the case not Hoyt."

"I'm on it Jane," Frost nodded pulling out his cell.

"We'll finish up here," Korsak said. "You head back with Dr. Isles."

"What? Afraid I'll get myself in trouble?" I smiled.

"You'll find a way to get yourself in trouble whether you're here or not," he smiled back. "Now get out of here."

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

Maura stood in between the two slabs where the Apprentice's third and fourth victim lay still and lifeless. The body that Maura was currently performing the autopsy on had been identified as 39 year old Cody Hoffman, a surgeon at Boston General Hospital. It took me a while to realize that he had been one of the surgeons to operate on me when I had been shot; him being dead only added to my guilt and confusion on why he had been targeted by Hoyt. Harder still is that he had not only had his throat cut, but had been stabbed multiple times and his leg had been badly burned.

"Cause of death was defiantly exsanguination caused by the laceration to his throat," Maura said. "The stab wounds to his torso were all inflicted post-mortem."

"How many were there?" I asked.

"I counted fifteen in total, all caused by the same knife," Maura replied.

"What about the burns on his leg?" I asked. "Was he still breathing when his leg was burnt?"

"From what I've found the burns were caused ante-mortem," she replied with a sigh. "I found trace of accelerant on his jeans; Suzie is testing it now."

"Was Hoyt's apprentice torturing Mr. Hoffman?" I asked more to myself than to Maura.

"Unfortunately Jane I can't tell you that," Maura said.

"Okay what about him?" I asked, nodding towards the second DB.

Maura spun around and walked over to the far side of the autopsy table. I came around the first table and stood across from her, looking down at the dead man.

"Forty year old Joseph Hopkin, third generation accountant," Maura explained. "Autopsy confirmed he died of exsanguination just as the other three victims."

"The bruising on his wrist and ankles are consistent with being bound to a chair?" I asked.

"It is," Maura agreed.

"What about time of death?" I asked.

"That's what's strange," Maura started. "Mr. Hoffman died half an hour before Mr. Hopkin did, but the condition of the body suggests that Mr. Hoffman died _after_ Mr. Hopkin did."

"What could cause that?" I asked leaning into the table.

"A number of drugs can affect the rate of decomposition of the body," Maura said. "I'm running a tox-screen on his blood right now."

"You have anything else for me?" I asked.

"Not at the moment," she replied. "I'll call you when I get the results from the tox-screen and trace."

I thanked her and headed towards the elevator, hoping Korsak and Frost would have something for me.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

Frost dropped the phone into the cradle just as I came through the doors that designated the Homicide Departments floor. He looked extremely flustered, which lead me to believe we weren't getting anywhere with the case. Korsak on the other hand was hunting and pecking on his keyboard looking through the list of suspects we had compiled over the past week. He looked tired, like he hadn't gotten much sleep in the past few days, but he had coffee with him probably the only thing keeping him awake. I slipped into my desk chair across from Frost and leaned back; I had nothing to report other than that both of the victims had died the same way but one had been stabbed multiple times and possibly tortured.

"Autopsy offer anything useful?" Korsak asked.

"Not really," I replied. "Maura found trace of accelerant on Cody Hoffman's leg she's having Suzie test it. She's also running a toxicology report on him also."

"I just got off the phone with Joseph Hopkin's boss," Frost said rubbing his eyes. "According to him Joseph had no enemies, and that he left work yesterday around four and didn't show up this morning."

"Well now they know why," I muttered. "Alright what do we know about Cody Hoffman?"

"He had a list of enemies like most surgeons do, but none of them have a history of violence," Korsak said.

"You know that doesn't mean anything these days," I said. "Did any of them show up on our list of suspects?"

"One, but he's serving a two year jail sentence for possession of illegal substances and assault," Korsak told me. "Other than that we have zilch."

"Can we get a list of Cody Hoffman's patients?" I asked.

"I'm working on getting a warrant to look at medical records," Frost said. "Millhouse is being a jackass, saying we don't have enough evidence for a warrant."

"How is he still a judge?" I muttered recalling all of the problems I had had with Judge Millhouse. "What about the prison? Did anyone talk to them?"

"They are taking extra precautions with Hoyt for the moment," Korsak told me. "There's a guard posted outside his cell round the clock and another two at the end of his cell block."

I nodded as I started to think to myself, trying to see if I had missed anything important. My brain was fried since I hadn't had a good night's sleep in over a week and this case was starting to take a toll on me. Everything just adding to the pressure Internal Affairs was putting on me.

"What about the knife?" I asked sitting up in my seat. "Did we get any evidence off of it?"

"The water pretty much destroyed all trace on it," Frost shook his head. "They found some blood near the hilt but they don't know if we'll get a hit from it."

"Even Hoyt wasn't this difficult to find," I groaned. "He made mistakes…"

"Maybe that's why this guy is so good," Korsak suggested. "He learned from Hoyt's mistakes."

"He would have made his own," I said. "No one is that good."

I heard the soft click of heels behind me and turned around to see Maura holding a file. Had she really gotten the results to the tox-screen that fast?

"I beg to differ, Jane," she said as she came to a stop next to my desk. "I could easily kill a person and leave no physical evidence."

"Okay…" I said slowly glancing at Frost and smirking. "Go ahead and add her to our list of suspects."

"I wouldn't use a knife," she defended herself. "There are multiple poisons that won't show up on a toxicology report."

"Thank you Maura," I said sarcastically. "Did you come up here to tell us you have something or just to say hi?"

"The results came back on the accelerant found on Mr. Hoffman's leg. The accelerant used was gasoline," she said becoming serious. "Unfortunately for you gasoline is one of the most common flammable liquids used as an accelerant."

"How did the killer keep it from burning the rest of Hoffman's body?" I asked throwing a confused look over at Korsak.

"My guess is the killer knows fire intimately," Korsak shrugged. "Sadistic bastard that he seems to be."

"What about the tox-screen?" I asked.

"I haven't gotten the results yet," Maura said. "I should have them in the next few hours; I made sure to put a rush on them."

I was about to say something when Lieutenant Cavanaugh came into the room with a grim look on his face. Immediately we all knew something was up; Cavanaugh usually never looked stressed. He came to a stop next to Korsak and rubbed the bridge of his nose before looking up his eyes landing on me.

"We have a problem…" he said breaking eye contact to stare at his shoe.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

Hoyt lifted his head off of the stiff pillow he had been issued after he had been incarcerated when he heard the buzzing. Connor Sutherland, the security guard that had been assigned to Hoyt's cell, slid open the cell bars and entered Hoyt's cell, in his hands he held a uniform. Hoyt sat completely up, a grin breaking out on his face. It was a little soon for this to be happening but that didn't matter; he was this much closer to Jane Rizzoli.

"Hurry up and put these on," Connor said handing the guard uniform to Hoyt. "There's a guard at the end of the cell block, but I'll have him out of the way in about a minute. We have to make this quick if we want to get out of here with minimal casualties."

"Miles just couldn't wait could he?" Hoyt asked his voice rough.

"No he's an impatient little bug," Connor growled. "But he did what you asked. Now we have to go. I'll be back in a minute."

Connor stepped out of the cell and slid it shut before disappearing down the cell block, leaving Hoyt alone. Hoyt quickly stripped out of the orange jumpsuit he had been forced to wear during his imprisonment then slipped into the slightly more comfortable blue prison guard uniform, pulling a black hat on to somewhat hide his face. Only seconds after Hoyt had pulled the cap on Connor returned and opened the cell back up, taking a second to pull a silver metal object out of his pocket and then handing it to Hoyt. For a second Hoyt felt the cold metal in his hand, just weighing it and getting a feel for it before another grin broke out on his face. Hoyt slipped the scalped handle up his sleeve but only enough so he still could keep a finger on the blade.

"Follow me… sir…"


	6. Chapter 6

**This is probably one of the fastest chapter's I've done and also the longest. As always thank you for reading and sticking with me you guys are amazing, please don't be afraid to tell me what you think, and enjoy.**

Chapter 6: Escape

Hoyt kept his head down and a step behind Connor Sutherland as they made their way down the cell block, towards a back stairwell that could take them to a loading dock. As the two moved closer to the security check the smell of blood came into Hoyt's attention. Hoyt's eyes fell upon the source of the blood when Connor overrode the security lock on the barred door, a guard sagged against the wall behind a desk blood pooling around him. He assumed that this was the guard Connor had said he had to take care of just moments before. For a second Hoyt admired the quick work Connor had done without raising any red flags, but he quickly refocused on following Connor. It wasn't long after they reached a T-junction that the alarms went off, warning them that someone had realized Hoyt had escaped. Connor didn't panic though and after a few choice words he was back to walking like nothing was going on, but now his pace had quickened.

"How do you plan to get past the guard station up ahead?" Hoyt asked barely looking up.

"I told you we would minimize casualties, not that there wouldn't be any," Connor replied patting a Glock that was holstered to his belt.

Hoyt fingered the scalpel he was hiding in his sleeve, interested to see how things would play out. He had been planning his escape for the past six months just waiting for the day he could finally watch the life drain out of Jane Rizzoli; it would be unacceptable to fail now because of some idiotic miscalculation made by a security guard he thought he could trust. Hoyt felt his body tense up as two guards ran past him and Connor, undoubtedly in response to the alarm that had been triggered. But Connor remained calm and continued to the guard station that blocked entrance into the hall that led to the stairwell. He knocked on the window and waved at one of the guards who immediately pressed a button, causing a slight buzzing noise before releasing the lock on the door. When Connor stepped through the threshold with Hoyt closely behind his was greeted by three guards who seemed unconcerned with his presence in the room.

"Howdy Connor," a short and heavy set guard said. "What brings you over here?"

"Just making rounds when the alarm went off," Connor said. "What going on?"

"Prisoner escaped," a second skinnier guard replied. "Entire place is on lockdown."

"Which prisoner was it?" Connor asked acting dumb.

"Prisoner 2786, Charles Hoyt," the third guard with a scruffy beard replied.

"Jesus," Connor said. "Wasn't he supposed to be under watch?"

"Yeah, go figure the day after Detective Rizzoli calls to tell us to up security on Hoyt he escapes," the heavy set guard said.

Hoyt kept to himself with his head down, listening to the conversation going on between Connor and the three guards. He was impressed with the ability Connor had to keep the guards from being suspicious of Hoyt. It was almost laughable that they were talking about him and he was standing directly in front of them.

"Did you see him escape on the camera?" Connor asked.

"They blacked out on us," the bearded guard said. "A guard that just got on duty found Sanders dead behind the desk and Hoyt's cell open."

"How the hell did he get his cell open?" Connor pretended to outraged.

"Looks like it was an inside job," the skinny guard said. "One of our own let the sick bastard out."

"Un-fucking-believable," Connor muttered under his breath, but loud enough for the others to hear. "Great day for you to start, huh rookie?"

Connor's remark to Hoyt got all of the guards to look at him, and even though the hat hid his face he felt uneasy being the center of attention. They had gotten too far for him to be forced back into his cell here.

"First day?" the bearded guard laughed. "That sucks rook."

Hoyt grunted in agreement with a little nod, knowing full well that if he spoke they would know who he was.

"Quiet ain't he?" the heavy set guard mused. "Welcome to the team."

Connor glanced at Hoyt, who by know was standing closer to the skinny guard then he had been before. Before any of the guards could realize what was happening Hoyt pulled the scalpel out and ran the blade across the skinny guard's neck in one swift motion. The guard reacted in surprise as blood started to spill from the cut before the color left his face and he collapsed to the floor convulsing slightly before becoming completely still. The heavy set guard and the bearded guard both went for their weapons but were stopped short as four shots rang out from Connor's gun. The heavy set guard fell back, slamming his head on the edge of the desk before crashing to the floor dead. The bearded guard fell back into his chair, blood seeping from the two holes in his chest, staining his uniform with blood. His breathing was extremely shallow so it was no surprise that Connor thought he was dead, but Hoyt knew better and without farther thought he crossed the room put the scalpel blade to the remaining guard's throat and slit it. A few more gasps escaped the bearded man's lips before he fell limp in the chair.

"What the hell did you do that for?" Connor asked almost angrily.

"He wasn't dead," Hoyt replied with a snarl. "Leaving him alive would have been an idiotic move on your part."

Connor cursed under his breath as he pulled a key ring off of the bearded man's belt. Hoyt wiped the bloody scalpel off on his pant leg as he waited for Connor to unlock the second door. Seconds later they were at another T-junction that branched off into another section of cell blocks to the left and to the right multiple rooms Hoyt recognized as interrogation/visiting rooms. But that wasn't what they were interested in, at the end of the hall was a door marked stairwell to L2, L1 and Loading docks. Connor, who wasn't about to waste any more time, broke into a jog fumbling with the keys the entire time. Hoyt kept up with his pace, glad that they had taken out the guards instead of just knocking them out.

Once in the stairwell Connor pulled his Glock out again and held it in front of him, in case they ran into anyone who might stop them. Hoyt had the scalpel ready as well in case he was forced to defend himself against a guard.

"Joey said he would be at the south dock, where they load prisoners for transport," Connor said as he advanced down the stairs. "Two flights down then head to the left when you get to the docks if we run into trouble."

Hoyt nodded slightly and followed a step behind like he had been doing since being let out. They had only reached the platform that led them to L2 when two doors simultaneously opened from above and below them. Shouts echoed off the walls warning Connor and Hoyt that they had company. They had taken too much time with the three guards and had probably just signed their death certificate. Connor took off down the stairs with Hoyt in tow, reaching the landing for L1 in no time. In front of them two guards rounded the first corner putting themselves only feet away from Hoyt and Connor. They two guards pulled their guns up to aim at Connor and Hoyt, shouting at them to identify themselves and lower their weapons. With a quick glance at Hoyt, Connor shrugged and pulled his gun on the first guard blowing a hole in his chest. The guard went down hard, and the time it took the second guard to see what had happened Hoyt was on him, plunging the knife into his throat.

"Go, get to Joey. I'll take care of the other guards."

Connor was already climbing the stairs as Hoyt nodded in acknowledgement. The shouts of the guards above had grown louder as they came closer and the sound of Connor's boots slamming into the concrete steps echoed on the walls. Hoyt didn't waist anymore time waiting for the guards to advance on him anymore. There was more shouting for above, but Hoyt found it impossible to make out. As Hoyt pushed the door open that lead to the loading docks he looked back over his shoulder just in time to see a guard tumble down the stairs leaving a trail of blood behind him. Hoyt was glad to have a pawn to get him out without much hassle.

Connor ducked out of the way as the remaining guard threw a punch at him, just barely missing his face. The guard took another step down, moving to his gun that Connor had knock out of his hands, but was denied any farther advancement when Connor slammed his elbow into the guard's stomach. Connor grabbed the collar of the guard's uniform, pulled him towards himself then threw him into the wall. The guard's head hit the wall with a loud crack, but he was still alive and still conscious. Connor stepped slowly down the steps towards the guard who was struggling to stand up straight.

"You'll never get away with this Sutherland," he growled.

"Won't I?" Connor asked before he slammed his night stick into the back of the guard's neck.

There was a crack before the guard fell to the floor, his neck having been broken from the impact. Connor grunted as he picked up his Glock he had lost hold of then raced down the stairs to meet Joey and Hoyt for departure, unless they had already gone…

Hoyt continued down the wide corridor that connected the prison to the loading docks, and where the vans came to transport prisoners to and from. Connor had not come back after going to take care of the other guards, and Hoyt had heard a lot of commotion coming from the stairwell after he left, but he suspected the worst. He had never considered Connor Sutherland as an apprentice; he was too cocky for his own good. The only reason Hoyt had used him was because he would have never gotten out without him, and Joey swore by him. Apprentices were too easy to replace to have to worry about them. So why bother?

"Where's Connor?" Joey asked as Hoyt came up to the black security van.

"We ran into trouble," Hoyt replied flatly. "He went to take care of some guards."

"He had one minute before we high tail it out of here," Joey said. "Whether he's alive or not."

The words had no sooner left Joey's mouth when Connor came sprinting out of the stairwell towards the vehicle. He waved frantically at Joey and Hoyt to get in and start the van up. Seconds later all three were in the car with Joey behind the wheel, Connor in the passenger seat and Hoyt in the caged back of the van. The last thing Hoyt saw as he closed his eyes was the prison fading behind them. Soon he would finally finish what he had started over ten years ago… he smiled to himself; Jane Rizzoli would soon meet her end.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

"_We have a problem…"_

Cavanaugh's words hadn't sunk in until I had collapsed into bed later that night, and the 'problem' that he had explained hadn't registered in my brain until I woke up in a cold sweat at 2:30AM. Things shouldn't have happened this way, and they wouldn't have if I had killed when I had the chance. But no I let the bastard live, instead of taking away what he had attempted to take from me I only gave him matching scars. It made me sick to think my mistake gave him the opportunity to finish what he had started. Most people would give up if they were in my position, but I wasn't most people. If Hoyt did make a third attempt on me I would be ready, and I would end things once and for all.

That was of course if Internal Affairs would allow me to stay on the case or stick me on desk duty or in the worst case suspend me. It wasn't surprising when the second I walked into Brick Cavanaugh pulled me out and threw me in a room with the sharks. If they wanted me off of the case, though, they would have to throw me in jail because I wouldn't walk away when the lives of the people closest to me were threatened. I made sure that IA saw that and that they realized I was the only one who knew completely knew Hoyt and that I was the only one he cared about getting to. Kicking me off the case would hurt them more than it would hurt me.

"Due to your… history with Hoyt it seems best that you be suspended from the case and be placed on desk duty," Captain Wolfe (the head of the IA investigation) informed me.

I wasn't going to take that, I was in too bad of a mood to be civil to the jackasses in IA. This was probably why Cavanaugh sent me to talk to them alone, he didn't want to be around to catch the flack of me chewing out someone who out-ranked me. I hadn't taken a seat when I first came in trying to get a point across to them I wasn't going to listen, but it was clear that it hadn't gotten across to them. So I tried intimidation; I leaned forward pressing my hands against the table and looked Captain Wolfe in the eye.

"Look Captain if you think for a minute you can keep me from this case you're more of an idiot than I originally took you for," I said forcefully, and continued before he could speak. "Because of my 'history' involving Hoyt I am the most valuable asset in bringing him in."

"Which is why you'll still be here, but not in the field," Captain Wolfe said, returning my glair.

"I don't think you understand _sir_, I can't do my job sitting behind a desk," I was getting angry. "You deal with suspicious actions within the Department, I deal with murderers. This man, Charles Hoyt, killed men and women without any regard for them and he tried twice to do the same to me. So unless you want more people dead and their blood on your hands you can go fuck yourself."

I left without waiting for him to speak again, we were done case closed; I would remain on the case until Hoyt was dead or in jail. It wouldn't come as a surprise however if I ended up without a job after we closed the case- calling a Captain from IA and idiot proceeded with go fuck yourself was not the brightest idea. Then again if I failed in taking Hoyt down I wouldn't have to worry about losing my job… At least Korsak, Frost and I would be able to laugh at the Captain for a while, no one liked him at all, and it wasn't even because he was IA it was because he was an ass.

Korsak set the file down on his desk that he was reading and took off his reading glasses when I walked back into Brick. He was concerned about me not only because of the stress the IA investigation was putting on me but because of Hoyt's escape. Back when we first caught the case of The Surgeon (soon after I made Detective) I had made the mistake of going after Hoyt alone without telling Korsak. We knew it was him but we couldn't prove it, so I acted on my own. That was the first time I had been under Hoyt's control, the day he had given me the scars on my hands. Korsak had figured out where I had gone and had come to help as back-up, little did he know he would be saving my life. He saw me completely vulnerable and broken, and after that I knew he couldn't work as my partner and I could work as his so I put in for a new partner- Frost. For a while Korsak was distant towards me, but even though he was no longer my partner he was still the one I went to and he still looked out for me.

"How'd it go Janie?" he asked.

"Yeah what did that slim ball Wolfe tell you?" Frost asked chuckling.

"He wanted to stick me on desk duty for the remainder of the case," I replied grabbing a chair.

"Idiot…" Korsak murmured.

"So what did you tell him?" Frost asked.

"After I called him an idiot I told him if he wanted me to sit behind a desk he could go fuck himself," I replied smiling slightly. "I probably won't have a job after the case is over."

"It's about time someone told him off," Frost snorted. "You should get a promotion for that."

I couldn't help but laugh, it was true anyone who had the balls to tell Captain Wolfe off deserved a promotion. Hopefully Cavanaugh would feel the same way and defend me like he always had; sometimes it paid off to be hard-headed.

"So what's the story?" I asked getting serious.

"They've called us in to process the scene, from the sound of it it's pretty bad," Frost said glancing at his notepad. "Eight victims, all guards, two with throat lacerations, four with gunshot wounds, one with a broken neck and one with both a laceration to the throat and gunshot wounds."

"Do we know who helped Hoyt escape?" I asked.

"The head of security said it was Connor Sutherland, the guard that had been posted outside Hoyt's cell since you went to question him," Korsak said. "What's worse is he was one of the guards in the room when you questioned Hoyt."

"Shit…" I muttered.

"What?" Korsak asked.

"Maura was with me," I said. "Hoyt's smart enough to know my relationship with Maura, but Sutherland probably paid more attention to her since I sent them all out of the room. If he's working with Hoyt, Maura may be his victim."

"We're putting a uniform outside of your house until Hoyt's back in jail along with his Apprentices," Frost said.

"I feel so much safer already," I said rolling my eyes, I absolutely hated having bodyguards. "Wait apprentices? Plural?"

"Sutherland can't be the killer, he was on duty each night during the times of the murders," Korsak said. "Hoyt's got someone else as his apprentice."

I shook my head, it didn't make any sense Hoyt wouldn't take on two apprentices at once it was too dangerous and it would slow him down too much. If Sutherland hadn't committed the murders he was being used by Hoyt and would soon end up dead himself. The second Sutherland's body showed up Hoyt would be in the wind until he came after me. We needed to find him fast.

"No, Hoyt only has one apprentice, Sutherland was just his key to escape an expendable pawn," I said. "Hoyt thought this through."

"Damnit Rizzoli what the hell did you say to Captain Wolfe?!" Cavanaugh shouted as he slammed the door to Brick shut. "He wants me to fire you!"

Korsak, Frost and I all looked at each other enjoying that I had managed to piss the Captain off so much and so easily.

"I just told him I wasn't going to be stuck behind a desk," I told him. "I made it clear I wouldn't do that."

"I heard differently," Cavanaugh said crossing his arms.

"I may have called him an idiot," I admitted.

"Is that all?" he asked.

"I also may have told him to go screw himself," I added. "Okay I used a little harsher word than screw."

"Damnit Rizzoli what am I going to do with you?" Cavanaugh sighed. "I don't agree with how you took care of things with him, but you were right. Go get over to the prison and process the scene."

"I'll take full responsibility for my actions when Hoyt's back in his cell," I said as I grabbed my blazer I had left here earlier.

"Good because the paperwork is hell to file," Cavanaugh said.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

The prison was in complete chaos when we arrived on scene. Security had been doubled around the perimeter of the compound and even inside the prison itself. It was a complete mystery where all the extra manpower came from; being a prison guard wasn't the most sought after job. Hoyt had been held in another wing away from the general population basically in solitary confinement; that wing had been completely shut down and the remaining convicts moved to another vacant part of the prison. Along with all the changes made to make processing the scene much faster and safer for us sister police departments were also called in. The prison wasn't truly in anyone's jurisdiction, but it was clear my department would be the ones to handle the murders because of the connection to the other crimes committed by Hoyt's apprentice.

It wasn't the pandemonium that filled the prison that affected me; it was the sight of the dead guards. I had seen hundreds of dead bodies in my time as a police officer, and hundreds of different causes of death to go along with it. This was no different, hell I even had a heads up back at the station as too who was killed what way, but it didn't matter I found myself unable to stand the sight of the bodies. Everyone noticed it too, the guards, the uniformed officers, the other detectives, and especially Korsak, Frost and Maura. It was no secret that I had almost been a victim of Hoyt's myself, and that's what they saw me as now a victim not a detective.

"9mm gunshot wounds to his chest and abdomen," I noted of the victim closest to Hoyt's cell.

"I count five," Maura said. "Two to the chest, three to the abdomen. I'll have to get him on the table before I can tell you which shot killed him."

"No one heard the shots?" I asked confused.

"On the security video it looks like Sutherland had a silencer on the gun," a guard standing nearby said. "It only gave him a few seconds of a head start."

"A few seconds was enough for him to get Hoyt out of here," I said. "Can you make sure we get a copy of that video?"

"Detective Frost already went to get it," the guard informed me. "He also went to talk to the guy who found Rick."

"Maura you need any help from me?" I asked. "If not I'm going to find Korsak."

"You can go ahead," Maura said not taking her attention off the dead guard. "I'll be done with him in a minute anyway."

Another guard that had been standing by led me down the corridor to the guard station that three others had been killed in. It was a square room that blocked this wing of the prison from gen pop and the interrogation rooms as well as the third floor visiting area. Two of the sides had windows to allow anyone stationed there to see what was going on where, and the door was locked from the inside making the only way of gaining entrance a security card or someone from the room unlocking it. This told me one thing about what had gone on was the guards knew Sutherland and were unaware that Hoyt was with him. Records showed that the door had been opened from the inside and not by a security card; Hoyt had just walked in right beside of Sutherland and no one thought to give a second thought about it.

The scene inside the room was much worse than the other scene just down the hall. Blood stained the tile floors, the concrete walls, the plexi-glass windows and even the control console that controlled locking mechanisms and other things in this block. One guard lay on the floor in a pool of his own blood, two bullet holes in his chest. The other two guards were slumped in their seats, one of them with a deep laceration on his throat and the other with a throat laceration and two bullet holes in his abdomen, both of them sat in their own pools of blood. One thing for sure was that Hoyt had killed one of the three and Sutherland had killed the man on the floor, as for the third victim I would put my money on Hoyt's work being what killed the guard.

"Christ… How did they manage to do all of this with security guards after them?" I asked, the sight of the carnage nearly pushing me over the edge.

"Sheriff Hanson, out there, told me Hoyt was in a security uniform," Korsak said. "It explains why his prison cover-alls were in his cell."

"How'd the Sheriff get that information?" I asked.

"Watched the security footage before we got here," Korsak shrugged. "He also told me that once Hoyt and Sutherland entered this room they were here for well over three minutes. They apparently stayed to make some friendly conversation."

"The guards were completely unaware that they were about to die…" I muttered. "What about the other four victims, have you seen them yet?"

Korsak didn't reply immediately, instead he chewed on his lip. I could tell he didn't think it was a good idea for me to see it but I had to; if not here I would see it later in the reports.

"I was there about six minutes ago," Korsak finally said. "But I don't think you should see it."

"Why? You think it's too much for a girl to handle?" I asked trying to be funny.

"It's just more of the same," Korsak said.

"Korsak I'll see them back at the morgue if I don't see them now," I reminded him. "The faster we do this the faster we can get to going over the evidence alright?"

I knew he meant well, but seeing four more dead wasn't going to change anything, sure it would be another thing I would have hanging over my head until I could resolve this fiasco, it wasn't going to keep me from my job. Korsak's shoulders sagged slightly as he turned to lead me down to the stairwell where the last four victims were. I couldn't say I was too surprised by the scene behind the door, more of the same, just like Korsak had said. Two victims with gunshot wounds, one with a broken neck and one with a throat laceration, just like the security station only one had been killed by Hoyt, I didn't need a security video to tell me that.

"Tell me how it played out."

"According to one of the other guards Hoyt and Sutherland were headed down these stairs when guards 1 and 2 started to come up from one of the lower levels. Words were exchanged before Sutherland pulled a gun on guard number 1 and shot him, killing him instantly," Korsak explained while basically acting out what had happened. "Guard 2 didn't have time to react after his partner went down leaving himself wide open for Hoyt to jump on him and slit his throat."

"Okay, then what happened? Guards 3 and 4?" I asked, following Korsak as he turned towards the third floor landing where we had stood minutes ago.

"3 and 4 must have heard the commotion down here because they started down the stairs with guns drawn. Sutherland sent Hoyt ahead and went to take care of the guards himself," Korsak continued. "Guard 3 was shot once in the head, leaving Sutherland and guard 4 to fight it out. Both of them lost their guns went straight to hand to hand combat, Sutherland was nearly knocked out by the guard but he managed to dodge the hit came back threw the guard into the wall. Then he pulled out his night stick and hit the guard so hard it broke his neck."

"And then Sutherland proceeds to catch up with Hoyt and our mysterious third un-sub and make their getaway," I concluded.

"That would be my guess, yes," Korsak agreed.

"We need to get back to Brick and watch those videos the camera's picked up," I said. "Maybe we'll get the whole story."

"Dr. Isles still has to release the bodies," Korsak reminded me.

"Then we should go talk to the guards who were on duty when this happened," I said. "Might as well do it here, instead of dragging every single one of them to the station."

For the next half an hour that's what we did, but we kept hearing the same thing over and over 'I just know that all of a sudden the alarms went off and we were all running.' The only one who said any differently was the guard who found the first DB. It had been shift change and he was about to switch out with the victim when he found him dead. He had immediately run down the cell block to see if it had been a prisoner who had escaped, there he found Hoyt's cell empty and had set the alarm off. It really didn't help us but it was at least something, hopefully we could get more from the security videos.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

We had spent 3 exhausting hours at the prison going over the crime scene and taking testimony from all of the guards present during Hoyt's prison break. Maura had finished the autopsies of all eight of the guards in the three hours following our return back to the morgue and the department. Korsak, Frost and I hadn't even gotten around to the security footage we collected from the prison yet; we had been busy trying to sort everything out and helping Cavanaugh deal with the press, who was swarming the stairs of the precinct constantly. By hour seven of going over everything we had found, including Maura's autopsy reports which she was finishing up in Brick, we were finally going to go through the tapes. To make it even better most of the camera's had audio records as well, so we hoped to get something from them too.

"Alright the video from Hoyt's cell block is completely fried, Sutherland must have knocked out those cameras before he let Hoyt out, but I did recover some audio," Frost said, clicking on a few things to pull up the audio on the large screen. "Let's see what our suspects had to say."

Frost pressed the play button and the audio buffered. For a while it was only static that came through but then finally someone spoke. I felt Maura slip her hand into mine as Hoyt's voice came from the speakers.

'…_couldn't wait could he?' _Hoyt's voice still sent shivers down my spine. Maura squeezed my hand.

'_No… impatient little bug… he did what you… we have to go…'_ Sutherland's voice was broken up all over and he raised and lowered his voice. If they had said the third man's name the speakers hadn't picked it up.

Then there was silence for a minute that dragged on and on, but Frost kept the audio playing.

'_Follow me sir…'_ was said and then the audio cut out.

Frost turned towards me.

"I wonder what he meant by 'couldn't wait could he?'" he asked.

"I couldn't tell you," I said. "Go ahead with the other video and audio."

Frost nodded and turned around to pull up the files that had been transferred to us from the prison. The first video was from the corridor leading up to the security check, and sure enough plan as day Hoyt walked right behind Sutherland in a guard uniform with a hat covering his eyes. The audio here was unrecognizable because of the alarms, but it was easy enough to figure out what Hoyt was saying; "is walking into a room full of guard's part of your plan?" Sutherland didn't seem to take much concern in it and for some reason patted his gun probably meaning he would take care of it. We sat and watched as Hoyt calmly stood in front of the three other guards and then in one quick motion slit the throat of the first guard. Seconds later he slit the throat of the third and final guard that Sutherland had shot as well.

Maura's grip on my hand tightened with each passing second she knew how hard this was for me to watch. It was one thing to see the aftermath of Charles Hoyt; it was a whole other to see him kill a man in cold blood, because there was a point where it could have been me. I almost lost my lunch when I watched Hoyt literally jump onto his third victim; the guard in the stairwell, just another tally on Hoyt's kill board.

'_Go get to… I'll take care of…"_

"This audio is terrible," Korsak said.

"It's the best I could do," Frost said. "Sutherland fried the circuit when he shot the guards, screwed with the audio."

"Frost stop, play that last part back," I said pulling my hand from Maura and standing up to get a closer look at the screen.

"You see something Jane?" he asked starting to rewind the video.

"Stop right there, play it," I said.

On the screen Hoyt walked out of the stairwell and proceeded down the hall, but he stopped in his tracks. That was what I had seen that both Korsak and Frost had missed because they had been talking. Hoyt looked up, directly into the camera, smiled and waved. The video paused right as Hoyt dropped his hand back to his side, but before his smile left his face.

"What the hell did he do that for?" Korsak asked.

"Maybe waving to the rest of the guards?" Frost offered. "Telling us he's won?"

"What do you think Janie?" Korsak asked. "Do you think he's taunting us or saying he's won?"

"No," I said my voice low and fist clenched. "That was for me… He's coming for me… this is what he's been planning this entire time."

"Jane…" Maura rose and came over to me.

"Damnit!" I shouted angrily slamming my fist into the table. "I god damn knew he would do this."

"Jane you did everything you could under the circumstances," Maura said placing her hand on the small of my back.

"I have eight deaths on me," I said. "Every single one of those guards death is on me."

"Jane their deaths were no one's fault," Korsak said. "Wrong place, wrong time that's all it was."

"Either way I'm not resting until that bastard is where he belongs," I said. "And this time I'll make sure he stays there."

"We're right behind you, all the way Janie," Korsak said.

"We're partner's right?" Frost agreed.

"You're not alone in this you know that," Maura said.

They were all right, when Hoyt had first appeared in our lives it had been me Korsak and Maura, then the second time Frost was involved. The Surgeon case was a part of all of us and unfortunately a bitter memory for the BPD since he had first started murdering couples. He's smiling face up on the screen in Brick it was just one more thing driving us in the Homicide Department to bring that sick monster down, even if it risked our own lives because in the end we knew that it would be one less threat on the streets.


	7. Chapter 7

**So I finished this chapter pretty fast, I had a lot of inspiration yesterday and today and just started going of course it ran kind of long so I apologize if it's a little much. I will say chapter 8 may not be up as fast because the next few days will be pretty busy for me but it will be up within the next week or so. So as always faithful readers, thank you, please tell me what you think and enjoy.**

Chapter 7: First Blood

I sat on the couch in Maura's living room reading through old case file on Charles Hoyt. It wasn't like I didn't know everything there was to know about him, but I needed to refresh my memory on the details of the case. The past week had been a living hell for everyone in the department. Korsak, Frost and I had put in so much overtime we had been given the choice of not taking on anymore overtime or taking unpaid overtime. We all opted overtime with no pay, it was better than getting behind Hoyt. Even Maura was putting in extra time at the morgue, helping the lab run tests on substance found on the bodies and so on, hoping to fund something to lead us to where Hoyt was hiding. Almost all of the department's resources were going towards finding Hoyt; even Cavanaugh was putting in some effort aside from keeping the press away.

I read through the detective's note, some of them in my handwriting, some of them in Korsak or Frost's handwriting. Most of the time you talked to a cop they would always tell you the stories of the cases that stuck with them. Maura even had a case that stuck with her and that was Dennis 'loves himself' Rockmond. He had shown up on the slab and had turned out not to be dead; Maura saved his life, dated him for some odd months and then he ended up dead at the bottom of an elevator shaft after he tried to kill Maura. Any case that stuck with Korsak either involved an ex-wife reappearing in his life or Charles Hoyt. The case that stuck with Frost was the one where my brother Tommy Rizzoli was arrested for murder and Frost's ex-fiancé turned out to be the lead FBI agent on the case. So far Maura and I were the only two who had been targeted by serial killers, and even though I hated the idea of Maura getting hurt it was better than some innocent bystander.

Just as I was about to read my report from the first time I had been Hoyt's prisoner Maura came up behind me and wrapped her arms around my shoulders, causing my reading glasses to fall off.

"How is the search for Hoyt going?" she asked.

"Just about as well as yesterday," I said.

"Are you still reading the old case files on him?" she asked sighing. "Why do you insist on putting yourself through that over and over?"

"I'm hoping I'll find something that may help us find him," I replied as I gently kissed her hand.

"I just don't like you forcing yourself to relive what Hoyt put you through," Maura said, dropping her arms and coming around the couch to sit next to me. "You never give yourself a break."

"Right now I can't afford to take a break," I said.

"That isn't what I meant," she said.

"If it means Hoyt going back to prison I can do this," I told her.

Maura fell silent. I could tell she was trying to work out the best way to approach the situation without making me angry. There probably wasn't a best way though, I needed to work and that was that. She seemed to realize this quickly and instead settled for resting her head on my shoulder.

"I'm worried about you," she said.

"Worried about Hoyt getting to me?" I asked inhaling the scent of her lavender shampoo. "He's tried and failed twice Maur."

"That's not what I'm talking about Jane," Maura said with another sigh. "I'm worried you'll do something stupid to protect me. I'm not the one in danger here, you are."

I shut the case file in my lap and tossed it onto the coffee table in front of us before I sank back into the couch.

"Hoyt knows about us, I don't know how but he does," I started. "I would rather have to go through what Hoyt put me through over and over than you having to go through it even once."

"Is that why you told Casey to look after me?" she asked. "I can take care of myself Jane."

"Oh really? What are you gonna do bore him to death?" I laughed. "Maybe I should stick with that tactic."

"Most people wouldn't put up with your abuse," she said smiling.

"You aren't most people," I said smiling back.

I wrapped my arms around Maura's waist and pulled her into my lap. She kicked off the heels she had on, plopped her feet down on the cushion and wrapped her arms around my waist before pulling me into a kiss. When she pulled away she had a grin on her face and was giggling, leaving me utterly confused.

"Did I do something?" I asked.

"No but I was just thinking," she said. "If you're so worried about me why don't you teach me to shoot?"

"The walking dictionary with a gun?" I almost laughed. "No Maura, I am not giving you a gun."

Maura started to pout, doing her usual routine of crossing her arms, pulling away from and giving me the look.

"Fine then," she said with a small smirk. "Since you're on guard duty you can sleep on the couch."

Most of the time I loved this woman more than anything, other times I wanted to slap her across the head. This was one of those times.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

The man struggled to free himself from his restraints while he tried to scream at his captors but the tape over his mouth preventing anything from escaping. The man the victim assumed to be Charles Hoyt stood patiently off to the side as a second man the victim did not recognized bound and gagged the victim's wife. He couldn't believe this was happening to them, it just didn't seem fair. The victim pulled at his restraints again and shouted more curse words at Hoyt even though he couldn't hear him. But he got Hoyt's attention and right now that was all that mattered, he had to protect his wife at all costs.

"Stop struggling," Hoyt said his voice in a low growl. "It will all be over soon."

"How'd you ever manage this by yourself Hoyt?" the other man asked.

"Practice," Hoyt replied. "You take the husband down first with the taser, tie him to the chair then get the wife. It's easy if you know what you're doing, Joe… I suppose that's why you only went after single men?"

"I wanted to have my own thing," the man- Joe laughed. "She's a pretty little thing… Looks a lot like Rizzoli."

There was more screaming masked behind tape and uncontrolled sobbing coming from the woman laying on the floor.

"Get her in the other chair," Hoyt said.

Joey did as he was told, lifting the hysterically crying woman and setting her in the chair across from her husband. Hoyt slid the scalpel that he had kept in his pocket into his hand and circled behind the husband; all emotion absent from his face. The husband started to shake, unable to keep control of his fear any longer. Tears streamed down his face as he realized his impending death. He was going die by the hands of the monster that had been imprisoned twice and given the death sentence. The husband thought about the detective who had been the lead on the case, the one that had almost become a victim herself. He had only ever heard about her in the papers and from friends who were cops, they all had said Detective Rizzoli was the best there was and had made it her job to see Hoyt to his death. It looked as if she had failed. He tried one more time to speak, knowing full well the tape kept him from getting anything understandable out. Hoyt came around to the front of him and kneeled down so he was at eye level with the husband.

"You know who I am don't you?" Hoyt tapped the scalpel on the husband's knee.

The husband sniffled before nodding slowly, unsure of what to think of Hoyt asking.

"I have a question for you," he continued. "I'm going to remove the tape on your mouth and you will answer me. If you even think of screaming my apprentice, Joe, will slit your wife's throat."

Hoyt glanced back at Joey who stood behind the wife with a large knife he had bought only a few days ago. The husband nodded fresh tears streaming down his face at the realization his wife could die. Hoyt reached up and tore the duct-tape off of the husband's mouth, causing him to cry out in pain.

"Please, we'll do anything you want just let us go," the husband pleaded.

"If you help me I'll help you," Hoyt said. "Are you familiar with Detective Jane Rizzoli?"

"Y-yeah s-she's the one y-you almost killed," the husband choked out between fits of tremors. "I-I don't know her personally."

"Do you know anything about the Medical Examiner, Dr. Isles?" Hoyt asked. "What their relationship is?"

"H-how should I know?" the husband asked confused.

"You have friends that are police who know her," Hoyt said in a low growl. "I'm sure you've heard something."

"I-I really don't know… t-the detective she and the ME are dating I-I guess," the husband shook his head. "T-that's what I heard."

"Where does Detective Rizzoli live?" Hoyt asked.

"In an apartment! I don't know!" the husband cried.

"No, she no longer lives there," Joey growled from behind the man's wife. "You know where she lives."

"Okay, okay! I think she lives with the doctor!" the husband cried. "I swear to God that's all I know. Please I gave you what you want, let us go!"

Hoyt shook his head as he reached back for the duct-tape and ripped a new piece off before tapping the husband's mouth back up. The husband started screaming something again, spit started to seep out of the edges of the tape. Hoyt rose and held the scalpel to the husband's throat, holding it there for a long time. The wife tugged at her restraints but didn't fight because of the knife being held to her knife by Joey.

"You didn't think I'd really let you live would you?" Hoyt laughed.

The knife slid across the husband's throat causing blood to squirt over Hoyt and run down the front of the husband's chest. Hoyt watched the fear in the man's eyes slowly disappear as he started to bleed out. The wife screamed into her gag as tears started to stream down her face.

"I hope you've done your research Joe, you know what happens with her."

"Don't underestimate me Hoyt. I'm not like Sutherland; I know everything about you, your case and your trouble with Jane Rizzoli."

Hoyt only wiped the blade on his pant leg.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

I groaned as I rolled over to grab my cell-phone that was ringing in my ear. The screen was bright, forcing me to squint and rub my eyes to see who was calling. The caller ID read; **Vince Korsak**. I answered it greeting Korsak with a loud yawn.

"Sorry to wake you up so early but we got call," he said sleep hanging heavily in his voice. "Someone complained about some noise coming from a neighbor, cop that responded to it found one dead and one missing.

That got my attention and woke me up again; I sat up in bed and run my hand through my hair.

"Male or female?" I asked about the missing person.

"One dead male one missing female," Korsak replied. "The whole thing smells of Charles Hoyt. You and the doc should probably get over here. I'll send you the address."

"Yeah we'll be right over," I said. "See you in fifteen."

I disconnected the call and tossed the phone down on the end table next to my bed. A week after laying low Hoyt had gone out and started up where he left off, adding more victims to his list. I glanced over at Maura who was asleep beside me thinking for the thousandth time that I shouldn't have been lucky enough to have her. She had taken to sleeping in my worn out BPD shirt instead of her silk pajamas she loved in the time we had been together. It made me smile to think two years ago she would have called me crazy for sleeping in shorts and a t-shirt. Granted she didn't wear the shorts, it was still something different for her. She was crazy if she ever thought I would stop worrying about her safety while Hoyt was on the loose.

I reached over to Maura's shoulder, shaking her gently to wake her up. She had always been a fairly light sleeper so she responded to me in seconds. A groan escaped her lips as she slapped my hand away and rolled farther from me.

"Maura, babe, wake up."

"Mhhmm," she groaned and rolled over. "What time is it?"

"4:30 in the morning, we've been called in," I said. "Now come on get up. I told Korsak we'd be there in fifteen minutes."

"What happened?" Maura asked as she sat up and rubbed her eyes.

"Looks like Hoyt, but we won't know until we get over there," I said swinging my legs out from under the warm sheets and into the cold air.

"Not his apprentice?" Maura asked as she rose to stretched, pulling up the shirt and revealing her smooth and toned legs.

"There's a woman missing, doesn't match the apprentice's MO," I replied pulled on a pair of slacks. "I guess Hoyt is officially out of retirement."

"Are you going to be okay?" Maura asked coming around the bed and hugging me. "I have barely been directly involved with Hoyt and it still bothers me."

"That's because you're sleeping with the only one who's ever survived Hoyt," I said.

Maura hugged me tighter and I hugged her back. Hoyt killing again bothered me more than anything, and the press would be swarming like vultures now.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

Outside the residence where the body had been found was a mad house. Reporters and camera crews were circling the yellow tape waiting to mob anyone associated with the police. For some reason reporters seemed to gang on Maura more than they did me on a regular day, probably because she wasn't a cop and they thought she would be dumb enough to talk, which she wasn't. That wasn't the case at 4:50AM Wednesday morning. The second I came into view, just outside of the yellow tape, three of for reporters were on top of me shouting questions and accusations, one of the uniformed officers that was station outside actually had to restrain one of them to help me get behind the tape. Maura gave me an apologetic look as I brushed of my blazer and continued forward. Behind me I still heard them shouting at me, trying to get an answer.

"_Detective Rizzoli did you know Hoyt was planning to escape?"_

"_Detective did you give the prison any warning of Hoyt's plan?"_

"_Detective Rizzoli how do you plan to catch Hoyt a third time?"_

Most of the time reporters sounded angry because they thought it would make you give them what they wanted. But this time they truly were angry, they wanted answers as to why Hoyt was allowed to escape. It was almost like they blamed me, like I was the one they could take it out on because of what had happened before. Maura seemed to notice the change in my demeanor because she took my hand, ignoring the cameras behind us, and let me forward and into the crime scene.

Korsak and Frost both stood in the foyer waiting for us the two of them looking extremely tired. Maura and I both gloved up as they lead us through the hall and into a dining room. On the far side of the room I saw the victim bound to the chair, not with rope but duct-tape, blood soaking the front of his shirt and a coffee mug on a plate in his lap. I could already tell this scene was different from the others it was obvious this was Hoyt and not his apprentice. For one the apprentice only killed single men, Hoyt killed couple's always killing the man at the house and taking the woman and disposing of her later. Then there was the cup and plate; Hoyt had always placed them in the lap of the boyfriend/husband, to warn him when they were coming to. His apprentice never did that, not once.

"From the looks of it Hoyt came up from behind tased the victim, Eli Kemper, then went for Eli's wife Allison," Korsak filled me in. "The wife's missing, consistent with Hoyt's MO."

"And the wife didn't scream at all?" I shook my head.

"That's where things differ from Hoyt's original pattern," Frost said. "I found a cloth that smells like chloroform. If I had to guess Hoyt brought his apprentice with him, and while Hoyt took care of the husband the apprentice took care of the wife."

"Neighbors said they heard Mr. Kemper shouting something before it got quiet," Korsak added. "That's when they called the cops."

"Anyone see anything?" I asked, knowing no one would have.

"Negative," Frost replied glancing over at Maura who was helping a tech remove the duct-tape bindings that held Eli Kemper to the chair. "Just as you'd expect at four in the morning."

"How is it the press already knows this was Hoyt?" I asked.

"Someone had a big mouth," Korsak replied.

"Yeah no shit," I said.

I went over to Maura to offer my assistance and to collect any trace evidence that was visible on the victim. Maura had the tendency to chew on her lip when she was worried and she was doing that now; I knew it wasn't because of the dead man in front of her. The crime scene was only six blocks from my old apartment that my brother Tommy was now residing in, 8 blocks from Maura's house that I resided in and 16 blocks from the station- way to close for comfort.

"It looks like there's some residue on his cheek. Probably from the duct-tape right?"

Maura looked up at me with a glare, basically saying _'really? You know I can't tell you and won't tell you until Suzie runs it.'_ It was almost enough to make me laugh- almost.

"Assumption's Jane," she said.

"Not really," I said. "There's a spent piece of tape right next to his foot, looks like it was ripped off his mouth and thrown on the floor."

"Or Hoyt can't rip tape off the roll very well," Maura shot back at me. "There might be DNA on one of the ends from Hoyt or his apprentice."

"I'll bag it and give it to Suzie to process," I said. "Happy?"

"Not particularly," she said rising. "The second Eli Kemper is rolled out that front door on the gurney the press will be all over it."

"I could take care of that if you want?" I offered.

"By doing what? Walking out there and allow yourself to be hounded by them instead?" she asked.

"I was thinking of just arresting a few of them," I shrugged causing Maura to chuckle and smile.

Processing a scene took hours, and this one was no different. Korsak, Frost and I work from one end of the house to the other until nearly eight in the morning. I had even braved the swarm of reporters to go next door and question the neighbors, who had seen nothing but had heard Eli Kemper shouting something about either being let go or something along those lines, they couldn't remember. Maura had stuck around to help me out even though she wasn't very good at interviewing suspects or processing evidence because of her inability to confirm certain things on the spot. She was to set in learning what she needed to know from the evidence, even if it was identifying a brown speck as blood even though I already had. Sometimes she just liked to get under my skin for the hell of it even though she had no idea she was doing it.

By the time we had finally gotten done at the scene it was 9AM and we were exhausted. But we still had work to do back at the station; Maura had to perform the autopsy on Eli Kemper, I had to stand over her and bother her until she found something useful, Korsak and Frost had to try and narrow down our search parameters for Hoyt and wait for something to come back from the lab that would help us. In other words none of us would actually get any sleep until we clocked out, which could be at 7PM or almost 11PM all depending on how much progress we had made. Either way we were all happy we could get back to the station, grab some coffee from the café then head upstairs/downstairs and crash in a chair while we worked. Well most of us were happy; Maura had to stand for the next few hours while she performed the autopsy, hopefully she had a pair of tennis shoes in her car.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

Joey slammed the door of the van behind Connor before he climbed into the driver's seat and started the engine. Allison Kemper was still alive in the basement, but Joey knew as soon as he left with Connor, Hoyt would kill her and dispose of her. That was probably the reason Hoyt had asked Joey to drive with Connor to the police station. It had only been a few hours since Joey had helped Hoyt with Eli Kemper, but Hoyt wanted to proceed with getting rid of the loose end. It had never been in the plan to keep Connor around for very long, his only purpose was to get Hoyt out of the prison and into Joey's van and he had served that purpose. Hoyt was never one to rush things but Connor was starting to bother on him, it seemed like the best idea to pile on to the work Jane Rizzoli had to do before they moved in. Joey couldn't complain, he absolutely hated Connor- for the reason that Connor actually talked down to him, when he was the one who was smarter and Hoyt's apprentice. It made Joey sick.

It was a long drive from the home Joey occupied for years by himself and now shared with Hoyt to the Police Department, but it didn't bother either of the two men. Connor thought nothing of the 'errand' that they were supposedly running and Joey was just eager to get rid of the guy. Finally after thirty minutes of what seemed like aimless driving the Boston traffic started to show up, making Joey unable to control the smile that broke out on his face. They were so close. Connor was oblivious of their surroundings until Joey pulled to a stop at the curb just outside the front entrance of the Boston Police Department.

"Why are we stopping here?" he asked stupidly. "Pretty sure this isn't the errand Hoyt wanted us to run."

"Just trust me will you?" Joey said. "Geez no one is going to see us."

"I'm not worried about them seeing you, but my face is all over the news bro," Connor said moving to the back of the van. "No way in hell is this Hoyt's idea."

Joey smiled as he stood up in his seat so he could move to the back of the van to speak with Connor face to face to say what Hoyt had told him to.

"Listen Connor, Hoyt really appreciates what you did for him back in the prison," Joey started. "He wouldn't have gotten out of there without you… well he would have but it would have been difficult. You had a purpose and you executed it flawlessly, but you know how things are with Hoyt. He really doesn't like company, and all you really are to us is a loose end."

"What are you talking about asshole?" Connor asked getting angry.

"What I'm trying to tell you- what Hoyt is trying to tell you- is you've served your purpose and we really have no use for you anymore," Joey couldn't help but grin. "Your time is up Connor, Hoyt asked me to make sure you were out of our way."

"What by turning me in?" Connor laughed. "I'll just cut a deal with the detective's tell them where you guys are holed up."

"You think I'm that stupid?" Joey asked. "I'm going to cut your throat and you can try to get into the station for help, but I wouldn't count on it."

Connor's reflexes were fast but Joey was just a bit faster. The scalpel caught the side of Connor's neck and slid across it leaving a line of red in its trail. Connor's hands went up to his throat in an attempt to stop the bleeding. Joey threw the side door of the van open and shoved Connor out before quickly slamming it shut again and jumping into the front seat. The last thing he saw of Connor as he drove away was Connor stumbling up the steps of the station, leaving a trail of blood behind him. Joey laughed to himself, finally that bastard was gone.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

"I really don't understand how news travels this fast," Korsak said as he waited for me to fill my cup with coffee.

We had just gotten back to the station fifteen minutes ago and had been waiting in the café for the line to shorten up so we could pay Stanley for the coffee. My ma had been on vacation in Florida for the past month because of a strained muscle in her leg or back, leaving us to deal with Stanley alone. Like always he was making it hell for us, hell he was even pissing off Maura- she was about to slap him across the face before she managed to calm down.

"And you think I understand it any better than you?" I asked. "Social media is going to be the death of us."

"You're on multiple social media sites Jane," Maura reminded me.

"I said they'd be the death of us, I didn't say I didn't use them," I told her getting both Frost and Korsak to laugh.

"How's Angela doing Jane?" Frost asked changing the subject and throwing a glance at Stanley. "When the hell is she getting back here?"

"Ma's fine, honestly I think she's perfectly fine but is staying there as long as she can," I replied. "I don't blame her."

"Great," Frost said sarcastically. "Tell her she needs to get back here before one of us kills Stanley."

"I'm pretty sure Maura might hurt him soon," I smirked. "Did you see how red she was getting when he started yelling at her for lingering in the café when he had paying customers?"

"I am a paying customer!" Maura defended herself. "I've been nothing but ni-"

Maura stopped dead in her tracks her gazed focused straight ahead at the entrance to the lobby. I put my hand on her back, about to ask her what was up, when she grabbed my chin and turned my head in the direction she was staring. Through the front doors a man in blue jeans and an old Boston Bruins shirt stumbled through the doors. His hands were pressed to his throat, stained crimson red with fresh blood. My hand dropped from Maura's back and the cup of coffee clattered to the floor as I ran over to the man, making it to him just as he started to collapse to the floor. Korsak, Frost, Maura and any uniformed officers in the lobby were right behind me, one of them I heard shouting for someone to call for an EMT. The bloody man that collapsed into my arms was completely dead weight, which caused me to lose my footing underneath me dropping both of us to the floor in a loud thump.

I rolled him onto his back, using my leg to prop up his head to minimize the amount of blood that escaped his wound, desperately trying to keep him breathing long enough to get medical attention. Suddenly I found myself wishing it hadn't been me who caught him because I recognized him- the man in my lap I was trying to save was Conner Sutherland, the man that had killed six guards and helped Hoyt escape. Korsak and Frost seemed to realized this too because they froze for a second, trying to figure out what to do. If he died then some justice came to the guards he had killed, but he wouldn't be able to lead us to Hoyt, we needed to make sure he lived. It didn't seem like that would happen though, I could already feel his strength fading and his breath weakening.

"Connor I need you to listen to me," I said to him. "I know what you did Connor and I know who you are. Hoyt's told you about me right?"

"Y-yes," Connor answered causing blood to seep out of his mouth.

"Jane don't make him talk," Maura warned me as she tried to help stanch the bleeding.

"Who did this to you Connor?" I asked, ignoring Maura. "Was it Hoyt?"

Connor tried to answer but instead only more blood spilled out of his mouth, his breathing started to get heavier causing some of the blood from his mouth to land on my face. His hand started to slip out from under Maura's hand and way from his throat. I used my free hand to add to the pressure Maura was already applying.

"Damnit Jane," Maura said. "The more he talks the more he'll bleed."

"Where the hell are the EMT's?" Korsak shouted.

"Connor you have to hang in just a little longer," Maura told him.

But Connor wasn't listening to Maura, he wasn't even looking at her, his eyes were on me. I could see he was fading and he didn't have much strength left, he wasn't going to make it another minute. It seemed like he realized that too because with his right arm he reached up weakly and wrapped his hand around my throat, trying to strangle me. For a moment I panicked as I felt my air supply being cut off. My hand that I had been supporting Connor's head with shot up to my throat and clawed at his hand trying to get it off. Even though he was near death he was still managed to hold on with an iron grip. Korsak dropped down next to me trying to help me pry off Connor's hand, but as quickly as it had happened Connor's hand fell limp back to his side. I pulled my hand away from his throat the second I felt him take his last breath and moved him off my leg rising and moving away from him as fast as I could. Maura stayed next to him a minute longer, making sure he was dead, before she came over to me.

"Christ Maura he tried to kill me," I hand my fists against the wall in front of me and my head down. "He was bleeding out and he still tried to kill me!"

"He was working with Hoyt, Jane, he knew who you were," Maura tried to console me.

"Hoyt was probably the one who slit his throat," I felt tears threatening to spill. "What the hell would Connor prove by killing me?"

"He wouldn't prove anything Jane," Maura said rubbing my back. "Connor probably didn't know what he was doing. He was just responding the way he felt was appropriate."

"Is that supposed to make me feel better?" I asked her, turning around to face the scene in the lobby, then falling back against the wall. "Hoyt killed him on our front door step, and for what? To scare me? To tell me he can get to me easily he just hasn't yet?"

I looked down at my blood soaked hands, both shaking uncontrollably, not because Connor had tried to strangle me with the last bit of strength he had but because Hoyt had managed to kill someone inside the Department building only hours after he killed for the first time since his imprisonment. Anger took over for a fraction of a second sending my right fist into the wall. Then it was gone and I sank to the floor finally allowing the tears to spill, Maura was down on her knees next to me instantly, her arms around me trying to comfort me.

"Easy Jane," she said quietly into my ear.

"I swear that bastard is going to pay," I said through clenched teeth.

Maura said something but I didn't hear here, my focus was on my blood soaked hands. It was the blood of a murderer that I had tried to save, who in the last seconds of his life tried to kill me while I was helping him. It was a bittersweet feeling, he had got what was coming for him after killing six guards and setting a serial killer free, but he hadn't been able to answer for his crimes the way he should of, and he hadn't given up Hoyt. I was close to breaking again, it already felt as if Hoyt was winning, but I knew if I thought like that I would have to admit defeat and let him kill me and countless other people. That was something I just couldn't do.


	8. Chapter 8

**Here's chapter 8 for all of you, it's the calm before the storm I guess you could say. If you've enjoyed this chapter so far just wait until the next few chapters, that's when the real fun happens. I'm so thankful for all of you which is why I have to thank you again for reading and sticking with me. I always appreciate when you tell me what you think so don't be afraid to review! And as always readers enjoy.**

Chapter 8: Nightmares

For the past twenty-four hours the BPD had been on high alert because of the murder suspected that had died just inside the front doors of the building. Everyone found themselves being forced to postpone their work until the lobby was clear. Maura was told not to start the autopsies on Eli Kemper and Connor Sutherland until she was given an okay by the Department Head. By eight AM the next morning she had just started the autopsy on Eli Kemper, something that should have been done before she had gone home last night. But she had no room to complain; since she had been forced to go home Jane had also been forced to leave. It had been easy to see that getting through the rest of the day had been extremely hard for Jane. Everyone knew that she had had two choices when Sutherland stumbled through the door bleeding; she could have let him fall to the floor and bleed out or she could have tried to save him. Even though she was angry with herself for the events from the past week and even though she wanted Sutherland, Hoyt and the apprentice to pay she had still done what most people wouldn't have even considered.

Maura glanced over at the window of her office, trying to see if Jane was still asleep in the chair. She couldn't tell from where she was at so she turned back to the body of Eli Kemper. When she started to make the Y-incision she found herself thinking about last night. Jane had been beyond exhausted by the time they had walked through the front door of the house and Maura was starting to feel the effects of the day on her as well. Both of them had taken a shower back in the precinct locker rooms to get rid of the blood that had soaked through their clothing, so they went straight to the bedroom and collapsed. Maura remembered that Jane had fallen asleep within minutes of her head hitting the pillow. At two o'clock in the morning Maura was jolted from her sleep when she heard Jane scream. Jane had sweat dripping off her face and was shaking uncontrollably Maura didn't need Jane to tell her what had happened she knew immediately it had been a nightmare about Hoyt.

"There are abrasions on the arms consistent with struggling against restraints," Maura said blinking once to refocus. "The same abrasions appear on the victim's legs…"

Maura turned the victim's face towards her so she could check behind his ear for circular burn marks.

"Two uniform burn marks behind the victim's ear consistent with Hoyt's MO."

She stopped the recording and set the tape recorder on the instrument table. For some reason her mind just wasn't there keeping her from concentrating at all. She pulled off her latex gloves and threw them into the trash as she headed out of the morgue and into the lab where Suzie was running the sticky substance found on Eli Kemper's mouth as well as DNA from the swab they took from the discarded piece of duct-tape. If anything Maura was hoping there would be something she could report to Jane.

"The two samples of DNA from the tape matched both Eli Kemper and Charles Hoyt," Suzie informed Maura. "And the residue from the victim's mouth is consistent with the adhesive used in duct-tape."

"Which confirms what Jane had thought," Maura said more to herself than to Suzie. "And you've confirmed that the chemical on the cloth Frost found was in fact Chloroform?"

"Yes," Suzie nodded. "Also a print was recovered from the tape used to restrain the victim, it's still running but I'll have the results for you in the next few hours Dr. Isles."

"Thank you Suzie," Maura said, having gotten at least something that she could give to Korsak, Frost and Jane. "Call me when you get the results."

Maura rubbed her eyes as she headed back towards her office not quite sure how she would manage to make it through the day or perform the autopsy on Connor Sutherland. She flicked the lights on before closing the door behind her, completely forgetting about Jane napping in the chair. Jane didn't stir at all leaving Maura to believe she would finally get some much deserved sleep. She closed the blinds and locked the door so she could work on the autopsy report without either of them being disturbed.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

An annoying clicking sound pulled me from my sleep. I glanced over to my left to see Maura completely absorbed in her work. Without making too much noise I reached down and pulled the badge off my belt so I could toss it at Maura to get her attention. My badge landed just off to the right side of the keyboard with a thud. Maura, for lack of a better word, squeaked and jumped almost falling out of her chair before she realized I was awake. If I hadn't still been tired I would have found it hysterical, instead I just smiled.

"You scared me," Maura said with a less than amused look on her face. "Did you have to throw that at me?"

"Not really, but I wanted to," I said. "Sorry I just wanted to get your attention."

"You didn't have to throw your badge at me to get my attention," she said smiling a little as she rose from her seat, grabbed my badge and brought it over to me. "Are you feeling any better?"

"I'm still tired as hell," I told her. "But Korsak and Frost probably need my help with something."

"I'm sure they will both understand if you need more rest," Maura said. "You haven't slept well since Hoyt's escape; any break you get you should take."

I reached out and wrapped a finger around the collar of Maura's shirt and pulled her closer. What I needed was more sleep, but what I wanted was far from it. I should have been thinking about the case, working to find and arrest Hoyt and the apprentice, but I couldn't. After the dream I had last night that I couldn't bring myself to tell Maura the details of I needed her more than anything. I didn't care that we were in the morgue in her office or that someone could waltz right in at any second.

"I have a confession to make," I said quietly. "Something I should have told you a week ago."

"And what would that be?" Maura asked leaning down to kiss me.

"I nearly beat the living shit out of my brother for making some dumbass remark about you," I said smiling.

"I don't find that to be much of a confession," Maura said.

"Maybe because it wasn't meant to be," I told her.

I didn't let her question me, instead I pulled on her collar forcing her on top of me. She was still in her scrubs which allowed her more freedom to move. Her right knee rested between my legs, her left foot still firm on the floor supporting her and both of her hands pressing against the arm of the chair keeping her from putting her weight on me. We both smiled at each other instantly forgetting about the troubles that were outside of this room. I wrapped my arms around her neck pulling her down into a passionate kiss. In this moment her lips felt like a fire against mine sending involuntary tremors down my spine. Her hands found my shoulders, gripping then tightly and pulling me even closer to her. I would never admit it directly to her, but I thought she looked just as amazing in her scrubs as she did in her designer cloths and I would have taken the former over the later any day. Maura just couldn't see that she was perfect without all of the fancy clothes she opted to wear.

"What did you really want to tell me?" she asked when she pulled away hovering just inches from my face.

"I think it can wait," I said unsure if I could really tell her at all.

"I thought you might say that," Maura sighed.

"Did you really?" I asked grinning. "Wouldn't that be an assumption?"

Maura slapped me in the arm playfully but hard enough for it to hurt. I couldn't help but laugh at her attempt to hurt me. She was exactly the stress relief I needed right now. I pulled her back down nipping at her ear before moving to kiss her neck. A moan escaped her lips as she wrapped her arms around my shoulders asking me to continue. My hands ran down the length of her body stopping where her scrub top met the top of her scrub pants. Her back tensed slightly as I slipped my hands under her shirt and touched her hot skin with chilled fingers.

"We should really be working Jane," she tried to convince me but was to absorbed in my touch.

"Then work," I said kissing her chin. "What did you find?"

"Eli Kemper died of exsanguination…" she murmured. "This really isn't fair…"

"Did the tape offer anything?" I asked momentarily playing with the clasp on her bra. "Give me something useful."

"DNA on the duct-tape matched Hoyt's and Kemper's DNA, and the residue on the victim's mouth was consistent with the adhesive used in duct-tape," Maura said resting her hand on my chest and pushing me back. "There was also a print found, it's being run as we speak."

"That really isn't much," I told her.

"That's why you should go talk to Korsak and Frost," Maura said pushing herself off of me. "I have to perform Connor Sutherland's autopsy, it might be best if you weren't here when that happened."

"Trying to protect me Maura?" I asked clipping my badge back onto my belt. "You're probably right though…"

"I want you to be able to sleep at night again Jane," she said when I reached the door.

"Maybe you can help with that tonight?" I suggested with a smirk. "If you find anything helpful call me."

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

Korsak and Frost were pulling on their blazers just as I came through the door. It looked like I had come at just the right time, unless they were going to get lunch because in that case I'd probably stay back and fall asleep at my desk. The two of them standing together looked just as tired as I did, which didn't surprise me but neither of them was under pressure from IA.

"Hey Janie," Korsak greeted me. "Where've you been?"

"I passed out downstairs," I replied motioning behind me with my thumb. "Where are you two heading?"

They both glanced at each other unsure what to tell me, but in the end settling for the truth.

"Frost tracked down an associate of Sutherland's," Korsak told me. "We were going to go talk to him, see if he knows anything."

"Great," I said clapping my hands together. "Mind if I tag along?"

Korsak had no objection but Frost hesitated for a minute. The look I gave him told him he better have a reason.

"You two go ahead without me," he finally said. "I have a couple more leads I should follow up on."

"You sure?" I asked.

"Go Jane, you need to start pulling your weight around here," Frost said jokingly.

Korsak and I shrugged at each other as we left, leaving Frost to his own devices. The elevator ride down to the lobby was quiet and uncomfortable. Yesterday had been a defining moment for all of us, it had been the first time anyone other than Korsak and Maura had seen me lose my composure. Korsak was just worried that I might have trouble walking through the lobby after I tried to save the man who had helped Hoyt escape. What he didn't understand was that I didn't know how to feel about it, there was anger yes but there was something else as well and I couldn't figure it out. All I really just felt numb to it, unable to tell what affect it had on me.

Once at the car Korsak took the wheel forcing me to have to sit in the passenger seat. I hadn't been filled in on all the details so I was unaware of where we were going and who we were talking to. A feeling in my gut told me we wouldn't get much from this acquaintance of Sutherland's, except for the usual bullshit of I had no idea he was involved and I can't believe he's dead. My only hope was that the acquaintance would cough something up that would lead us in the right direction. My mind started to bounce from one thing to another as Korsak started the drive to our destination- wherever it was- combining with the each building flying by as we passed it my eyelids started to get heavy. Twenty minutes ago I had woken up from a nap and now I found myself drifting off again; my body was extremely deprived of sleep so I didn't fight it for long.

_::Dream::_

_ The floor was damp underneath me, my clothes clung to my body offering me little warmth… little comfort. My breath was shallow, quick, frantic even, this was the end, every fiber of my being told me so. The torture I had been put through had been too much, even for me. My throat still burned from all the water I had taken in when my head had been submerged under water. My leg still sent pulses of shear pain ripping through my body whenever it moved because of the burns they had inflicted on me. My hands still felt like electricity was flowing through them, the burning caused by the spark plugs and car battery caused my stomach to churn. This was it. This was how I was going to die; completely alone in the most unbearable pain._

_ Never in my life had I given up, not when I had first entered the police academy, not when I had been promoted to Detective much to my male co-workers distaste, not when I had first gone after Hoyt, not when I had been shot, not even when I fell for my best friend. But here I was again, on a floor much like the one from when Hoyt had scarred my hands a few years ago, the strength slowly leaving me and my faith waning. Tears started to spill out of swollen, red eyes; how could I still have tears left? I tried to think, tried to find something in my brain to grab onto, something that would give me the strength to fight one last time. A fleeting image of me on Maura's doorstep in the pouring rain holding flowers raced into memory. Another image of Maura standing in the door with the most breath-taking smile on her face inviting me in even with the water dripping off of me, causing a puddle around my feet. Then suddenly I was dry, standing in her room wearing a pair of shorts and a shirt I left over there just in case. I felt heat as Maura's hands crept up my back removing the ragged old tee and discarding it on the floor. A fire broke on my lips as I kissed her both our tongues explored eagerly, hungrily. Her robe fell to the ground leaving her completely exposed to me. Sweat dripped from our bodies, both of us breathing heavily and moving in sync with one another; her back arched and she inhaled sharply…_

_ The memory of our first real night together was shattered when I heard the opening and closing of a door followed by heavy footsteps. The monster that had haunted me for so long came to a stop at my feet; casting his shadow over me and looking down with a sick grin and look in his eyes. I couldn't stop the terrified whimper that escaped my throat, fueling Hoyt's excitement. This is what he had been waiting for since I had first gotten on his trail. He would finally have what he wanted._

"_Jane," his scratchy voice carried my name, it was the same voice that terrified me. "It's over Jane."_

_ I squeezed my eyes shut waiting for the scalpel to come across my throat. A thousand things rushed through my mind; my ma, my brothers Tommy and Frankie, my boss Cavanaugh, my partners Korsak and Frost and Maura. Never again would we sleep next to each other in the same bed, never again would I wake up next to her, never again would I make love to her after a long day of work. Hoyt had the pleasure of taking everything from me, and taking me away from the people I loved._

_ The cold steel of the blade slide across my throat followed by a warm liquid seeping after it- my blood. I was about to take my last breath…_

"_Jane."_

_::End Dream::_

"Jane, hey Jane wake up."

I was yanked from the nightmare by someone shaking me gently and saying my name. My body reacted in fear jolting me forward and immediately making my pulse race and my breath become rapid and shallow. It took me a minute to realize it was Korsak sitting next to me in the driver's seat and the care had stopped; we had reached our destination.

"Everything alright Janie?" he asked with a worried look. "You fell asleep on me."

"Yeah, yeah I'm fine sorry," I said rubbing my eyes and trying to even out my breath. "So who is it we're looking for?"

"Drew Carroll," Korsak said. "He works as a loader for the trucking docks."

"Let's go find his boss shall we?" I asked Korsak.

Korsak and I both stepped out of the car onto warn out asphalt that was in need of some serious repair. We had come to a large trucking plant that shipped boxes of sports equipment to different distributers around the U.S. a business that wasn't very glorious but the same could be said about police. It came as no surprise when Korsak and I came across a work and asked him to take us to his boss that he started coming on to me. Korsak and I always found it funny when dock workers, truckers, males of any sort treated Korsak like shit and me like a piece of meat. They usually were harmless but some of them got rowdy and I usually ended up either cuffing them of pinning them to the ground with my boot.

"What's a pretty lady like you doing way out here with an old guy like him?" one of the workers grinned at me and laughed. "If you really want a good time I'm free in 20."

"Oh yeah?" I smirked raising an eyebrow. "You have a better chance screwing your buddy over there in the truck."

"Hey now don't be like that," the guy moved towards me, completely ignoring Korsak.

"She said she isn't interested pal," Korsak held up a hand to stop him, the man just ignored him.

More than once I have had my ass groped by some sweaty guy who thinks women are nothing but things. And more than once I have broken arms and fingers of guys who think they can do the same. So when this guy grabbed me and I gave him those two seconds of thinking he had just scored I whipped around grabbed his arm, twisted it then kicked his foot out from under him knocking him to the ground. Finally I pinned his arm to his back, dug my knee right into the middle of his back pulled my gun and held it in front of his face so he could see it.

"I've had a really bad week and am really in no mood to deal with a pervert like you," I said in a low growl. "I just want to talk to the guy I came here to talk to and then leave. If you know what's good for you you'll get your boss for me along with Drew Carroll alright?"

"Y-yeah y-you got it…" the man was shaking.

I let go of his arm and rose, holstering my gun as he scrambled to his feet and hurried away from Korsak and I. Korsak looked over at me with a huge grin on his face. I met his grin with a chuckle.

"Was that really necessary?" he asked. "The gun I mean."

"Probably not but I really didn't want to deal with him again," I replied.

Korsak laughed and then we both fell silent as we waited for the guy to come back with his boss and co-worker. Ten minutes later I saw the man point another man dressed in a grey jumpsuit for us, my guess was he was Drew Carroll. I didn't see another person come with him. When he finally reached us he looked pale as if he knew what was coming. Maybe he knew something that would be of some use to us.

"Drew Carroll?" Korsak asked as the man came to a stop.

"Yeah that's me," he replied.

"We're from Boston Homicide," I informed him. "We were hoping you could answer some questions for us."

"Uh questions?" he seemed skittish. "Should I call a lawyer or something?"

"Only if you have something to hide," Korsak said.

"Or want to be taken to the station," I added.

"No," he said quickly. "Go ahead."

"Are you at all associated with a Connor Sutherland?" Korsak asked.

"Connor? Uh yeah I guess," Drew replied.

"Do you have any knowledge of his activities in the past month?" Korsak continued.

"Not really, we weren't close or anything," Drew told Korsak.

"You're aware that Connor Sutherland assisted in the escape of Charles Hoyt a week ago and was recently killed as a result?" I asked him. "If you're keeping anything from us you can be charged as an accessory."

"Hey I had nothing to do with that," Drew shouted defensively. "That Hoyt guy gives me the damned creeps I was glad he was in prison."

"What about Sutherland?" I pushed. "Anything you give us will be helpful."

"I mean Connor bought some things off me a month or two ago," Drew shrugged.

"What exactly did he buy?" Korsak asked.

"Alright if I tell you I can't get in any trouble alright?" Drew said. "I'm just the middleman not the dealer."

"We'll see what we can do," I told him. "What did he buy from you?"

"Connor came to me a while ago and told me he needed some medical supplies, didn't say for what, but he bought a lot of them," Drew explained. "It's no questions asked alright, he paid me in cash and I paid the distributer. That's it I swear."

"What all did he get?" Korsak asked.

"I've got it written down," Drew pulled out his wallet and handed Korsak a paper with writing on it. "I always make a receipt so they don't come back and tell me I cheated them."

"Can you give us the name of your supplier?" I asked.

"You know what I don't care, as long as you keep me outta prison I've got you," Drew said.

Korsak took down the rest of the information while I headed back to the care with the list Drew had supplied us with. The things on it worried me, but came as no surprise because of Sutherland's involvement with Hoyt. With the items they had purchased Hoyt could basically open his own clinic. I read through a few of the items; chloroform, morphine, antibiotics, surgical scissors, and of course scalpels. When Korsak finally returned to the car I handed him the list, and pointed out the obvious. Chloroform had been used at our last crime scene and scalpels were Hoyt's weapon of choice.

"I doubt this'll lead us straight to him but at least we now have something to go on," Korsak said. "We'll get him Jane."

I wanted to believe him, but the nightmare I had had right before we had gotten here kept me from being positive. My hope that this case would end well wasn't very convincing.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

My feet drug slightly as I walked through the front door of the house I shared with Maura. After speaking with Drew Carroll we had gone back and dug up what we could on his supplier and also started to figure out what everything they had purchased could be used for. Maura had gone home an hour before Korsak, Frost and I had even come close to wrapping things up for the night. She was in the kitchen when I walked in cutting something on a plate, seeing her made me smile a little. I could really use the distraction right now. Maura looked up and smiled but continued cutting whatever she was cutting.

"Is that Kiwi?" I asked.

"Yes," she replied.

"I like Kiwi…" I said.

"I know," she said smiling down at herself.

"Can I have some of the Kiwi?" I asked slowly.

"No," she replied.

"Why not?" I asked as I watched Maura pick up a slice and eat it teasing me. "Why are you doing this to me?"

Maura shrugged and sat at the barstool next to the counter. I walked around the island in attempt to steal a piece of Kiwi from the plate. Maura grabbed my hand, blocking me from the plate and with her free hand she took another slice and ate it, grinning seductively at me. I took the opportunity to lean in and kiss her, my problems melting away instantly. Maura wrapped her arms around my neck and her legs around my waist kissing me back. I lifted her out of the seat setting her on the counter top so Maura was just taller than me. Her hands moved down my sides finally coming to a rest on my thighs. I felt Maura inhale sharply as I slid a hand under her skirt and tugged at her thong. It had been awhile since we had had sex on the counter, back when we had first started seeing each other intimately. But then I felt Maura pull away and move her hands away from my hips and to my chest.

"I'm sorry but shouldn't you rest?" she asked.

"Yes, probably," I said.

"You keep telling me that you won't take a break until Hoyt is back in prison," she said. "So shouldn't you be sleeping at home instead of at work? We don't have to have sex Jane.

I sighed as I set both of my hands on either side of Maura, leaning closer so we were only inches apart.

"Maur I love you and right now what I need is to be with you," I told her.

"I know Jane but-" I shook my head stopping her.

"Who did I come to after Korsak saved me from Hoyt?" I asked.

"Me," Maura replied.

"And who did I come to when Hoyt escaped the first time?" I asked.

"You came here… to me," she replied.

"And who was it that I came to when I was plagued by nightmares of what he might do to me?" I asked.

"Me," she replied again.

"You and Korsak are the only two people I have ever talked to about what happened in that basement, you're the only ones who know everything. Frost, my _partner_, doesn't even know the whole story," I told her. "When people think of me they see me as some rough and tough cop with no fears- nothing can get to me. But I'm not, nobody sees how broken I really am… nobody but you Maura. I came to you all of those times because you make me feel safe; make me feel like I'm not alone. You're everything to me, without you I don't know if I could do it anymore."

Maura wrapped her arms around my neck and kissed me tenderly, pulling away after a second and smiling.

"I love you too Jane," she said, pulling me back to kiss me again before giving me a funny look. "You didn't come up with some sentimental story to get my Kiwi did you?"

"If 'kiwi' is a euphemism for something else then perhaps," I said returning her smiled.

"No euphemism," she said.

"Ah well… did it work?" I asked.

"You know what Jane," she said pulling me down to rest my forehead against hers. "I want you to forget about the Kiwi and pay attention to me."

"So bossy," I whispered.

Maura giggled and wrapped her legs back around my waist. I hefted her off the counter, kissing her the entire time as I carried her back to her-our-room. She didn't give me any time at all after I set her down instead she hooked a finger around the collar of my shirt pulling me down into the heated kiss I had needed all day. Seconds later clothes were discarded off the side of the bed, Maura's skin hot against mine as we seemed to melt together. I ran long fingers down her leg to her knee, my other hand softly caressing her firm breast as out tongues wrestled with each other. As long as I had her by my side Hoyt couldn't do a thing to hurt me.


	9. Chapter 9

**Okay so this chapter ran a lot longer than I wanted it to so I apologize if it seems lengthy. I'm extremely proud of this chapter, especially the end, and hopefully you'll like reading it as much as I liked writing it. I'll keep this brief so thank you for sticking with me, tell me what you think and as always enjoy.**

Chapter 9: Missing

Maura sat behind her desk chewing on the end of her pen thinking about the list Jane had told her about last night. The details about the original Surgeon case were swimming around in her mind, what Hoyt had done to his victims, disposing them in the woods so they wouldn't be found. Then she and Jane had found the body of one of the women Hoyt had claimed the life of. They had left her there, against Maura's better judgment, hoping to catch Hoyt visiting the grave; instead FBI agent Gabriel Dean had been digging around. Jane had thought it was Hoyt and took him down, holding a gun to his head then she realized it was Dean. What was happening now was extremely close to the happenings from before; except that Hoyt had only claimed three victims only two of them matching his MO. Maura feared that whatever Hoyt was planning would come into full swing soon. He had enough supplies to perform minor surgery without any problem. The phone on Maura's desk rang; she rubbed her eyes and reached over to answer it.

"Dr. Isles," she answered.

"Doc its Casey," Casey's voice came over the speaker. "Sorry to bother you at work but I wanted to talk to you about something."

"You have my cell number Casey," she reminded him. "You didn't have to call me on my work phone."

"Yeah guess I just wasn't thinking," he said. "So can you talk?"

"What do you need to talk to me about?" Maura asked glancing at the clock on her computer; Jane would be in another meeting with IA right about now. "I have about twenty minutes before Jane comes down to gripe about IA."

"That's why I was calling you," Casey admitted. "A friend of mine has a friend in IA. I've heard that things aren't going so well for Jane."

"That's no surprise," Maura said sadly. "Jane hasn't caught a break since the beginning of this investigation that started because she shot an armed man trying to kill her."

"I've dealt with people like that while I've been in the service," Casey said. "They find anything they can to bring charges against you. If things turn out badly with the IA investigation tell Jane she should consider a career in the military. We could use someone like her on our team."

"I'll bring it up to her," Maura chuckled. "Is there anything else Casey?"

"No guess not, I'll see you two around," he replied. "You guys be careful, okay doc?"

"We will try," Maura said. "Take care of yourself Casey."

The line disconnected. Maura found herself worrying that Hoyt wouldn't be Jane's only problem in the future.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

Joey pushed the shelving up against the basement wall in attempt to set up before Hoyt returned from whatever he was doing. With Sutherland gone Joey had twice as much to do in the short amount of time he had left before they went after Detective Rizzoli. He opened a box that contained multiple different glass bottles of drugs taking them one by on and lining them up on the shelving. They were completely stocked; morphine, antibiotics, isoflurane, sevoflurane, IV fluids, scalpels, surgical scissors, stitches, chloroform. Joey didn't know exactly what Hoyt was planning, but he knew he would get a little time with the detective before she died. It was going to be a fun day.

"It's to roomy down here," he said to himself. "I could fit a fucking bowling alley down here."

He really didn't care about the size of the place; he just wanted to hear someone's voice while he worked. Hoyt was quiet and kept to himself, something Joey as a reporter wasn't use to, he missed the talking. He tossed the rope into the corner and shut off the lights before he headed upstairs; he really needed a nap.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

I threw open the door to Maura's officer angrily throwing my bag to the floor as I stomped over to the couch and sat down with a grunt. Maura's brows furrowed when she saw me, completely confused over my frustration. I thought it should have been completely obvious because I had been forced to wear my uniform to work for my meeting with IA and the Chief of Police. Maura dropped her pen lacing her fingers together to rest her chin on them, waiting for me to drive full force into whatever rant I was about to start.

"I take it things didn't go very well?" she asked.

"Yeah no kidding," I said unbuttoning the collar of my uniform. "I was this close to jumping across the table and strangling that smug ass Wolfe."

"I'm proud of you for being able to restrain yourself," Maura said. "What are they saying now?"

"Well after I was chewed out for speaking to Wolfe the way I did earlier they informed me of how things would go," I said. "If Hoyt is not in custody in a week I will be removed from the case and from the department permanently."

"Can they even do that?" Maura asked. "Can they set a deadline to catch a serial murderer?"

"They can if the orders come from the top of the food chain," I said yanking at the itching collar of the uniform. "The Chief of Police was there, he was the one who gave me the ultimatum."

"Oh Jane… I'm so sorry," Maura's hands dropped and her voice grew soft. "What are you going to do?"

"What else?" I shrugged. "I'm going to keep working if I don't meet their time-frame I may have to turn to methods you wouldn't agree with."

I rose and went over to her taking a seat on her desk with a large sigh. Sometimes you had to do things you really didn't want to do, but when the pressure was on like it was you had no choice in what went on. If it came down to it I would have to act the same way I had when I had first tried to bring Hoyt in alone.

"I don't agree with most of your methods, Jane," Maura informed me. "Just promise me you'll be careful?"

"You know I will," I said leaning back to kiss her.

"What's the bag for?" she asked when I pulled away.

"Change of clothes," I replied. "Mind shutting the blinds?"

Maura smiled as she got up and pulled the blinds shut on one window while I grabbed my duffle off the floor and opened it. After a second I realized Maura had stopped shutting the blinds, when I glanced over at her she was reading a text on her phone. I reached down to check mine to see if I had anything I had missed, and I had. There was another murder, and if I wanted to arrest Hoyt and keep my job I couldn't waist anytime.

"I guess you're going to have to wait to change," Maura said.

"Fucking joy…." I muttered hefting the bag on my shoulder. "Let's go."

Maura rolled her eyes and followed me out the door to the back exit of the morgue to get to my car.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

For the first time in a long time Maura and I beat Korsak and Frost to the crime scene. It was the same as the one from the other day; a man sat bound dead in a chair, his throat having been slit. I would have to wait for Maura to check, but I bet we would find taser burns behind his ear; it was obvious it was Hoyt because of the cup on the plate in his lap, one of Hoyt's calling cards. The snapping of latex gloves caught my attention and I glanced up from where I was staring at the floor to Maura. She enjoyed her job way to much sometimes- not to mention she made it way to obvious that she enjoyed it.

"Wish you were that forward with me,"

A few officers that had responded to the call gave me a sideways glance, but most of them shook their head and walked away, not wanting to get involved. Maura rolled her eyes and pressed down on the man's abdomen forcing the thermometer into the victim's skin to take his liver temperature.

"I didn't think you were into kinky sex," Maura said, causing my face to turn red. "But now I know."

I dropped my head into my hands in attempt to hide my face. Maura had never been shy about her sexuality or her sex life, and she wasn't afraid to call me out in front of everyone. Behind me I felt the officers staring at me again, one or two of them chuckling. I was going to need a drink or four after work today.

"How kinky are we talking?" a familiar voice came from behind me- Frost.

"Hello Detective Frost," Maura had done a complete 180 and was sounding like she had back when we had first met. "Jane and I were discussing my forwardness."

"No we weren't," I said quickly.

"You two are the strangest couple I have ever been involved with," Frost said turning to look at the officers. "Don't you guys have something better to do?"

"Hey Jane what's up with the uniform?" Korsak asked as he came in, clearly having missed everything else that had just happened.

"Oh Maura and I have gotten into role play," I told him with a straight face just to screw with him. "I'm the cop and she's the doctor."

"Oh my God," Frost started laughing.

"I had a meeting with IA and the Chief of Police today. We got the call before I had the chance to change," I said after Korsak's jaw fell. "You two really need to get out more."

"Jane," Maura's voice sounded off. "There seems to be something lodged in his mouth, can you give me a hand?"

"Yeah," I said going over to her. "What do you need me to do?"

"Support the back of his head and hold his mouth open," Maura told me.

I did as I was told, holding one hand to the back of his head for support while with the other hand I held open his jaw so Maura could remove the object. What she extracted from his mouth surprised me because it wasn't something I had seen at one of Hoyt's murders. Maura carefully un-crumpled it turning it over in her hands, looking it over before she looked up at me. I had only caught a glimpse of what was on the paper when Maura first turned it over, it looked like it had colored ink but I couldn't be sure. Korsak and Frost had come over to get a look at the paper as well, both standing behind me waiting for Maura to hand it to one of us. The look on Maura's face told me whatever was on the paper wasn't good.

"What is it?" Korsak asked.

"I think this is meant for you Jane," she said ignoring Korsak.

Maura's hand shook ever so slightly as she handed me whatever it was that she found in the victims mouth. I took it from her, flattening it out as much as possible so the ink was less distorted. My jaw clenched when I finally realized what I was looking at, a picture of Maura and I outside of her house, no more than three days ago coming home from work. It was like when Hoyt escaped the first time, he lit a flare outside of my apartment and took pictures, but this time instead of keeping them for himself in the prison he was taunting me with it. Korsak took the image from me to get a better look himself before he handed it over to Frost.

"That son-of-a-bitch was right outside of the house," I growled.

"I'll arrange for another patrol car to be stationed outside," Korsak said. "If he decides to stick his neck out we'll get him."

"Don't count on it," I said with a sigh. "He's told me what he wanted to tell me already; whatever happens next will be what we all have been dreading."

"That seems too fasted, to rushed," Frost said.

"You recall the case from- what is it now two years? A year and a half?" I asked him. "Hoyt had his apprentice on me constantly, but a day after he escaped he kidnapped me. This time he's waited and planned."

"You don't think he's planning to do whatever he's planning tonight do you Jane?" Korsak asked.

"Directly after his second set of victims?" I weighed the options. "I wouldn't put it passed the narcissistic bastard, but he'd been risking a lot."

"We shouldn't take any chances," Frost said. "Hoyt's done enough to us already, its damn time we do something."

"About that," I said forgetting I hadn't told them about the IA investigation. "I was given an ultimatum earlier when IA called me in… it doesn't affect you as much as it does me but uh… if Hoyt isn't in our custody in a week I have to turn in my badge."

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

I thanked the man on the other end of the line before hanging up. A groan escaped my lips as the phone settled into its cradle. Twenty minutes in traffic to get back to the precinct, thirty minutes calling associated of the victims to get a timeline of how things went down, and fifteen minutes of getting the address of his family that lived in the area. Down in the morgue Maura was still performing the autopsy- having been slowed by a double accidental death- apparently that was more important to the city of Boston than a homicide investigation. Even Korsak and Frost were running into problems with setting up patrol's outside of my residence for the next week or so- according to Cavanaugh the Chief of Police wasn't too happy about sparing anymore man power to protect a detective and medical examiner. I now knew where my co-workers stood on their views of me- they were pretty pissed.

"Find anything of any use Frost?" I asked raising my head and looking over at him.

"I can tell you the general model of camera used to take that picture Dr. Isles found in the victim's mouth," he said. "Unfortunately that'll widen the search more than narrow it."

"Korsak what about you?" I asked. "Find anything on this victim that'll help us out?"

I didn't get any response.

"Korsak? Where the hell did he go?"

Frost shrugged he had no idea where Korsak ran off to either.

"When you find him have him call me I have an idea. I'm going to head down to the morgue and see where Maura's at; you're welcome to come along."

"I'll have to pass," Frost patted his stomach. "I just ate lunch."

"What would you do if I wasn't around to do this for you?" I asked him.

"Have Korsak do it," he replied with a chuckle. "No way in hell you'll get me down their when Dr. Isles is cutting a guy open."

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

Joey drummed the steering wheel anxiously as he waited for Hoyt to finish his fourth victim, the wife of the computer programmer they had killed earlier that morning. They needed to bury the body before they grabbed Rizzoli. It was hard enough keeping one victim restrained and in control it was a whole other too keep one victim plus a cop. Joey would have his hands full ensuring Jane didn't try something stupid in attempt to escape Hoyt. He checked his rearview mirror to see if Hoyt was coming, impatience having gotten the best of him. The drumming on the wheel increased as another minute ticked by; what the hell was taking him so long?

He was just about to go get Hoyt himself when he saw Hoyt exit the building, a smirk on his face. Joey jumped out of the car more than ready to get out of the vicinity of the building and back to their hideout. Then he realized Hoyt didn't have the body with him, apparently Joey was supposed to carry it out to the car. His blood started to boil again; Hoyt was using him like a tool not treating him like an apprentice, it was starting to get to Joey.

"Where the hell is her body?" Joey asked as he came up to Hoyt.

"Waiting for you inside," Hoyt answered passing by Joey. "Put her in the trunk and then we can go."

"Why didn't you just bring her out?" Joey asked turning to face Hoyt. "I'm your apprentice Hoyt not your slave."

"You're taking over for me when I die aren't you Joe?" Hoyt asked, not even waiting for a reply. "Do as you're told and things will go smoothly. I had to do this alone before I was convicted."

Joey caught a growl growing in his throat and turned back towards the building. He knew what Hoyt could do and he was not willing to be caught on the other end of the scalpel-ever. The second Rizzoli was dead though, Joey would be don't with Charles Hoyt and done with Boston- he wanted to be on his own and he wanted a larger pool to choose from. He'd found out in the last week how worthless it was to be the apprentice of an infamous serial killer. Joey pushed through the front door heading straight for the body of the girl that lay on the floor. As he stood over her he found himself wishing Hoyt had wrapped her in plastic or something before they moved her, if the detectives got on Joey's tail and searched his car there was no doubt they'd find trace evidence- they always did. He hefted her over his shoulder, struggling momentarily under 129 pounds of dead weight as he headed back out into the Boston heat.

"Pop the trunk will you?" Joey asked straining under the weight as the body shift when he tried to grab his keys.

There was the metallic click of the latch releasing the trunk as Joey crossed the gap between his car and the building. There was a reason he liked fire, there was a hell of a lot less to get rid of afterwards and it destroyed almost all of the evidence. Joey dropped the body into the trunk, slamming it shut before turning back to Hoyt with a glair.

"Satisfied?"

"Having second thoughts Joe?" Hoyt gave him a sideways glance. "I can fix that easily."

"Second thoughts?" Joey scoffed. "Why the hell would I have second thoughts?"

Hoyt had a scalpel to Joey's throat before he had the time to blink. Joey held his hands up to the sides in defense but all Hoyt did was tighten his grip on the fabric of Joey's shirt. The blade dug into Joey's skin enough that he could feel blood trickling down his chest.

"From here on out I expect you to do everything I ask of you," Hoyt growled into Joey's ear. "Do you understand?"

"Yes sir," Joey nodded, breathing out a huge sigh of relief when Hoyt let him go.

"Good, now get in the car," Hoyt ordered. "We have to get ready."

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

"Tinea Pedis," was the first thing I heard when I walked into the morgue.

"Um… Excuse me?" I asked shutting the door behind me.

"Athlete's foot," Maura said smiling at me. "Our victim had a bad case of athlete's foot… It appears he wasn't doing anything to treat it."

"Right and that's important to his death why?" I asked crossing my arms.

"It isn't, but if I hadn't examined his feet I wouldn't have noticed the burning on the skin," she told me. "Almost as if someone took the end of a cigarette and put it out on his foot."

"That's not part of Hoyt's motive," I said. "Can you confirm it's recent?"

"The discoloration around the burn suggests it happened within the past twelve hours, before our victim died," Maura explained.

"You think Hoyt is giving his apprentice some time with the victims?" I asked her.

Maura shook her head as she covered the victim's feet with the surgical towel. She moved up to his head pulling the towel down to his waist before she picked up her scalpel.

"I take it you're going to stand over me while I perform the autopsy," she said.

"Thought you liked my company," I said. "I mean it's not like I have anything else to do around here."

Maura smiled at me before pressing the scalpel to the DB's shoulder, starting to make the trade-mark Y-incision of ME's everywhere. It wasn't so much the blood or internal organs that got to me most of the time; it was the cracking of the ribs when she used the bone saw to remove them that really bothered me. I watched Maura's skilled hands as they felt around, pressing on the heart, checking the small intestine, then moving to remove the stomach and look at the victims stomach content; gross yes, necessary- probably not, but Maura was thorough. Ten minutes later she was examining the injury on the victim's neck. It was an ugly wound, something that Hoyt was more than capable of inflicting on someone. She held out her hand to me and I just looked at it in confusion.

"The tweezers," she said. "Will you mind handing them to me?"

"Oh uh yeah…" I picked the tweezers off the surgical tray and handed them to her, why she couldn't just grab them herself was beyond me. "You find something Maur?"

"Maybe," she answered removing whatever it was she found. "There appears to be fibers in the wound."

"From what a shirt? A bag? A leash?" I asked.

"I couldn't tell you unless you brought me something to compare it too," she replied.

"You make things impossible," I told her.

"The same could be said about you," she shot back.

"Yeah but you love that about me," I said.

"Sometimes I wonder why," she laughed.

I smiled to myself as she continued to examine the body thoroughly making sure she didn't miss anything. As I waited for her to finish the primary examination and stitch the DB back up and do her post-op my mind started to wonder. If I failed to bring in Hoyt I would no longer have my job as a detective so I would be forced to look elsewhere. Which is where the problem came in- I didn't know anything besides police work. I rubbed my eyes and shook my head, thinking about a new career should not be my priority right now I still had the chance to keep my job.

"Oh Jane I forgot to tell you Casey called me this morning."

"Why?" I asked. "What did he want from you?"

"He heard some things from a friend about the investigation on you," she told me. "He wanted me to suggest the military to you in case you lose your job."

"I'm 37 Maura I don't think enlisting is an option," I informed her.

Maura shrugged as she started to stich the incision she had made only half an hour ago. This day was going by extremely slow and I still had a report to write up meaning I would be in late, probably working overtime. I glanced at the clock on my phone, realizing I had missed a call from Korsak and that it was almost three. Maura didn't seem to notice me take a step back to listen to my voicemail. Frost had told Korsak to call me and he was just following up trying to figure out what I had come up with.

"I have to go Maura, bring up the report when you get it done."

"It will be an hour or so," she said.

"I'll hold you too that," I said.

"No you won't," she said as the door swung shut behind me.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

Upstairs I pulled both Korsak and Frost into Brick and had Frost pulled up a map of the city, not yet explaining my hunch. Hoyt had used an abandoned house in the middle of nowhere when he had first started killing, leading me to believe if he had done that once he would stick to the pattern. I felt stupid for not having thought of this sooner, we could easily narrow down the locations Hoyt could be hiding at.

"Why did we pull up a map?" Frost asked. "Have an idea?"

"I've been thinking," I started. "If Hoyt holed himself up in an abandoned house the last time he would probably do the same this time right?"

"So if we get plans for every abandoned building in Boston we have a place to start," Korsak nodded.

"Start it out broad but the narrow it down to places around wooded areas like the last one," I told Frost.

"On it," Frost said.

The map on the screen in front of up jumped from one building to another compiling a list of all abandoned buildings within a certain area from the station and the two crime scenes from the past few days. On a separate screen the same map was doing the same thing but on a much narrower database, searching for only buildings near or around wooded areas- Hoyt's favorite dumping site for his female victims. It would take the broad search at least half an hour to an hour to complete while the narrowed search would only take a few minutes since there wasn't a great amount of woods in Boston. The three of us should have gone and done other work that was begging for our attention (paper work from other scenes we had worked), but instead we just sat and watched the screen jump. After about four minutes one of the printers buzzed sending Frost leaning back in his chair to grab the list from a narrowed search.

"Looks like we have sixteen buildings that match the profile, uh two of them are about three miles from both crime scenes," Frost said passing the list to Korsak.

"What's the likelihood that Hoyt and his apprentice are outside of our search radius?" Korsak asked passing the list to me.

"Extremely likely," I replied. "But we only have a week to arrest Hoyt and his apprentice, so keeping the area small and working outward is probably the most efficient way."

"Should we go checkout the two buildings closest to the crime scenes today or what?" Frost asked.

"We should get as much done as we can if we only have six days left to get Hoyt," Korsak said.

"You two should probably do that then," I told them. "No matter how much I want to tag along I have paper work to do and filing it would be one less thing IA can bug me about. Besides I'm waiting for Maura's autopsy report, I'll keep an eye on the search and what for Maura while I work."

"Suit yourself Jane," Frost said rising and grabbing his blazer.

"Don't stay in too late," Korsak said resting a hand on my shoulder. "Cavanaugh isn't too happy about all the overtime you've been taking."

"I'll clock-out when my shift is over at 5," I promised him.

"That means you leave the building and go home at 5," Korsak reminded me.

"Just go, knock these two places off the list," I waved him off.

I smiled to myself when the door to Brick swung shut and I was alone. After almost two weeks of getting nowhere we finally had something to look into.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

Frost and Korsak had clocked out almost 30 minutes ago leaving me to finish up any paperwork I hadn't gotten to yet. Both buildings as we had initially expected had been empty and looked as if no one had been in them for months. Tomorrow we would start looking at the other buildings we had on our narrowed list once we ran out of those we would go broader until we either found Hoyt and the apprentice or we ended up outside of Boston city limits, whichever came first. I finished the last line of notes I had to complete in this particular file then shutting it I tossed it aside and picked up the next one. It was unbelievable how much paperwork had managed to stack up on my desk in the matter of a few weeks. Some of the cases that I was finishing files for had been closed for months, the paperwork had just finally caught up with it.

I rubbed tired eye trying to regain my focus as the papers in front of me started to blur; I had been staring at word after endless word for too long. _Jane…_ My eyes were open in an instant after hearing my name being called by a rough, almost scratchy voice. I spun around in my chair looking for where the voice could have come from, but as soon as I realized the room was empty I knew that I had been hearing it. Hoyt was starting to get to me, my mind was starting to play tricks on me and I was starting to fry. How had I been able to hold on for thing long? _Really Jane? Really?_ I mentally hit myself for letting my fear get the best of me. The distraction had only been momentary I was back with the pen in my hand filling out what needed to be filled out; completely ignoring the time.

I didn't really know how much time had passed until someone walked into the Homicide Departments 'office', all I knew was one second I was writing something about foul play the next I had arms around my neck and a chin on my shoulder. The pen I was holding slipped out of my fingers as I reached up to rub the arm that was around me.

"How often do you let paperwork stack up that high on your desk?" Maura asked. "It makes it clear you're a very unorganized worker."

"Or I've just had a lot on my plate recently and haven't been able to deal with this growing mass of old cases," I corrected her. "Why haven't you left?"

"Korsak called and told me you would probably forget to clock-out," Maura informed me. "I was going to remind you earlier but I thought I should let you finish a few more files so you didn't take them home."

"So considerate," I chuckled.

"Seriously though it's getting late," Maura's tone grew serious. "This can wait until later."

"Yeah, you're right," I sighed taking her hand and pulling her into my lap. "Tell you what, let me finish this report and then I'll clock-out and pick up Chinese take-out or something."

"Fine," Maura said tugging at the collar of my shirt. "But if you take any longer than an hour I'm taking a hot shower and drink a glass of wine myself and you can sleep on the couch."

"You wouldn't do that to me," I called her bluff.

She just smiled as she pushed herself up from my lap and headed towards the door.

"Watch me," was the last thing she said before the door shut behind her.

I felt my face grow red, even after a year of her 'torture' always messing with me by telling me no sex she had me good.

"Picked yourself a good one Rizzoli," I muttered to myself as I went back to writing my report.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

Maura set her keys on the table near the door before heading to her kitchen to get out a couple of glasses and open a bottle of wine. The house was seemingly quiet without Jane sitting on the couch watching sports of some kind, it almost made Maura feel uncomfortable. She had seen the officer that had been posted outside of her house when she had gotten home, but it didn't make her feel any safer. Then again she wasn't sure what to be afraid of, Hoyt wasn't after her if anything she would be with Jane and would end up being collateral. She sighed, shaking off any unrealistic fear she felt and went back to the kitchen. The clock on her oven read 6:30 meaning Jane could be back in the next few minutes (if she had rushed) or in another 30 minutes (if she had actually done what she was supposed to do). Maura poured herself a glass of wine, leaving the second glass empty for Jane to fill at her own discretion when she got back.

A skill of being a successful doctor, cop, ME, and whatever was you had to leave your work at work, and Maura was excellent about doing that most of the time, but today she found herself thinking about Hoyt's victims. It had been odd to find the burning on the most recent victims feet, and even stranger that he had been hit with both a taser and chloroform. Things almost seemed like Hoyt was letting his apprentice do a lot of the work and add his own touches. Maura shivered at the thought, if Hoyt got to Jane there was no telling what he would allow his apprentice to do. She took a sip of her wine only to be jolted by the sound of a door closing. The rest of the house was still dark since the lights hadn't been turned on leaving Maura completely blind to whatever (if anything) had just caused the sound. After a pause and a long silence she pushed it off as her imagination and took another sip of wine…

This time when the glass parted from her lips she saw a standing in front of her- not just any man either; Charles Hoyt and he held a taser. Maura wanted to scream, call for help anything to get the officer from outside to help her but she found herself completely frozen. She dropped the wine, the glass shattering on the floor spilling red liquid everywhere. Hoyt only grinned as he watched her shrink in fear.

"Hello Dr. Isles," the words hit Maura like a brick. "It's good to see you again."

Maura tried to speak but the words were stuck in her throat.

"I really wasn't expecting it to just be you tonight… Actually I was really hoping it would be Jane."

"Go to hell," Maura finally managed to say.

"I suppose things never go like we want them too," Hoyt mused. "So what now? Do I wait?"

Maura heard more footsteps behind her, but she didn't dare turn her back to Hoyt. Whoever it was stopped right behind her, the stench of cigarettes burning Maura's nose.

"You really wanna risk that?" he asked, and Maura recognized him instantly Joey Miles. "That Rizzoli will walk right in and shoot you dead."

"Oh I agree," Hoyt nodded. "So what we leave her or do we take her?"

"Take her," Joey replied. "I'd say she'd work as leverage."

"It looks as if, Dr. Isles you're coming with us," Hoyt's grin struck pure terror into Maura.

She felt a muscled arm wrap around her waist before a calloused hand holding a cloth covered her mouth, she screamed no but it didn't travel far. Using all the strength she had she struggled to get free from Joey, but the smell of Chloroform was strong and she realized she wouldn't win. Her body started to give in and she felt herself start to go limp in Joey's arms. Her last thoughts before being pulled completely under were of Jane.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

"Maura?" I called out as I kicked the door shut behind me. "Hey Maura I brought Chinese.

No response. I set the food down next to her keys on the table and moved farther in to the house.

"Maura?"

Upon entering the kitchen I saw an open bottle of wine and one glass. I was about to call out for her again when I stepped in something wet and sticky; looking down I saw a broken glass and a pool of thick red liquid. My heart sank and my pulse started to race, forgetting completely about the food I ran to the back of the house calling out her name hoping for a reply, never once getting a response. Something had happened, something bad had happened to Maura. I ran back into the kitchen hoping to find something that would tell me what had happened. Then it dawned on me, this had been Hoyt, he had finally come for me and instead had taken Maura. I slammed my fists into the counter and let out a shouted of anger. Hoyt had Maura, and I hadn't done anything to stop it, she would die because of me… Hot tears ran down my face as I dropped my head to the counter. I should have called for backup, called for Korsak and Frost, but I didn't. My moment of self-loathing was short last however- my phone started to ring, playing the funeral march I had assigned as Maura's ring tone- even the caller ID read Maura. I answered it completely full of hope that Maura was okay, that I had been wrong, but the voice that came through the receiver wasn't Maura…

"Maura?"

"No, not quite" the sound of Hoyt's voice almost made me vomit. "I apologize for missing you today."

"Fuck you Hoyt," I shouted rage taking over. "Where the hell is Maura?!"

"You don't need to be rude Jane," Hoyt said. "She's safe for now, don't worry I'll take good care of her."

"Damnit Hoyt she has nothing to do with this, let her go!" I heard my voice crack. "It's me you want not her!"

"You're exactly right Jane," Hoyt agreed. "But you don't think I would let her go without something in return would you?"

"I swear to God if you hurt her in anyway, if you so much as lay one fucking finger on her I'll find you and I'll kill you," I shouted.

"You can try."

The line went dead. I shouted at the static for a minute before slamming my phone down on the counter. What did I let happen?

"Damnit!" I shouted to the empty house.

Anger welled inside me and unable to control it I grabbed the closest object (the wine glass) and chucked it across the room, causing it to shatter against the wall. Silence followed as the anger in my blood continued to build and boil. Without giving it a second thought I finally called Korsak, the words catching in my throat when he answered.

"She's… she's gone Vince… Maura… Hoyt has her…"

Anger turned to an overwhelming sadness forcing me to the ground without disconnecting from Korsak. For the first time in over a year Korsak heard me cry, and for the first time in a long time I had no idea what to do.


	10. Chapter 10

**Okay chapter 10! Somehow I always manage to type more then I want to but am unable to cut anything or shift things to the next chapter otherwise this story may go on forever. Anyway I assure you things are coming to the climax here soon. As always faithful readers thank you and enjoy!**

Chapter 10: Emotions

The red and blue lights of the police cars stained the street as the sun started to sink lower in the sky. People had responded to the sirens, filling out the street beyond the blockade of police cars that had been called n scene. Inside the blockade uniformed officers scrambled to make sense of everything, trying to get everything in order, trying to take statements. Korsak and Frost walked swiftly through the front door of the Medical Examiners house, heading towards their partner and good friend. Ten minutes ago they had been at their homes throwing back a cold beer, than Korsak received the call from Jane. When he heard her crying he knew immediately something was really wrong. They hadn't been fast enough; Hoyt had made his move on Jane but had ended up taking Maura. Korsak knew Jane blamed herself for it, because of her Maura was in danger.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

I paced back and forth in front of the couch thinking of what I could do, how I could get Maura back safely. The cops that were milling around in Maura's house were starting to get on my nerves, they weren't going to find anything here they were only wasting valuable time. No one was letting me do anything to help forcing my stress levels through the roof. The entire time I had been waiting for Korsak and Frost to show up, we needed to come up with a plan.

"They won't let me help Korsak," I said angrily. "I should be out there doing something."

"There's nothing you can do right now Jane," Korsak told me. "What you need to do is sit down and tell me what happened."

"I don't know what happened Korsak!" I nearly cried. "I stayed late to finish a report and when I got back there was a broken glass and Maura was gone."

"Take it easy," Korsak said putting his hands on my shoulders. "Did you see anything?"

"No nothing," I said feeling defeated. "I don't know maybe five minutes after I got home and realized she wasn't here my phone rang… It was Maura's number but…"

Anger welled up inside me again as I thought back to the call, to Hoyt basically laughing in my face. Korsak waited while I tried to get a hold of myself, only once glancing back at Frost to tell him to go talk to the officer that had been stationed outside.

"But it wasn't her… Hoyt had used her phone to call me…"

"Alright Janie…" Korsak said sympathetically. "We'll do all we can to find Dr. Isles and take that bastard down… for the meantime Jane take a breather."

Just like that he left, leaving me alone watching two crime scene techs examine the scene in the kitchen. My thoughts were scattered one second I was thinking of how I could have changed what had happened, the next I was beating myself up over the idea that if I hadn't have stayed later at the precinct Hoyt wouldn't have taken Maura. _Or he would have taken both of you, forcing you to watch as he killed her before finally putting you out of your misery._ I couldn't sit here any longer just waiting allowing myself to think about what could have been done or what was going to happen I had to do something. My body moved towards the door before my brain was able to catch up and realize what I was going to do. Korsak and Frost were out with the uniform who was supposed to have been watching the house, that's where I needed to be.

Officers called to the scene stopped moving around as I passed by them, their eyes on me until I shot a glair at one of them, causing a chain reaction of them all looking away. Frost saw me before Korsak did when I finally reached the street and came over towards them. When Korsak finally did catch sight of me he reached out to grab my arm, but I immediately pulled away from him and moved in front of him so I was closest to the uniform by the patrol car. He stood there sweat dripping off his brown and his hands fidgeting with the keys in his hands. I could tell Korsak and Frost had been easy on him; otherwise the officer would have been shaking in his boots.

"Jane Officer Rice was the one assigned to guard duty tonight," Frost said watching me closely. "He said he saw Dr. Isles arrive home and nothing else until you got back."

"You didn't see anything," I repeated holding back the urge to punch him. "Two people break into my house and you don't see anything?"

"No," Officer Rice said shrinking a little. "I didn't know anything was wrong until I heard it over the radio."

"How in the hell did you not see anything!" I shouted slamming him into the car. "Charles Hoyt and his apprentice abduct Maura and you don't see anything?!"

"Jane stop!" Korsak ordered me.

"No one entered the premises from the front after the doctor went in," Officer Rice's voice was thick of fear.

"It was your job to check on her and make sure she was okay!" I shouted. "If you would have done your job she would be safe!"

"Jane that's enough, let him go," Korsak shouted grabbing me by my blazer and pulled me off of Officer Rice. "Rice isn't at fault here Jane. He did exactly what he was supposed to do."

"You seriously expect me to believe that?" I asked still shouting. "He has her Korsak that could have been prevented if he had done what he was supposed to do!"

"He couldn't have known that Hoyt would choose tonight to make his move on you," Korsak prompted. "No one could have known that Jane. I know you're angry, and you have every right to be, but taking it out on your comrades is not the solution. Focus on Maura, focus on rescuing her from Hoyt."

It had taken awhile but I finally stopped seeing red and was getting back into focus, the realization of what had just happened hitting me hard. I was trying to hard not to blame myself for everything I ended up blaming someone else, someone who hadn't done anything wrong. If I had any hopes of getting to Maura in time I had to be able to control my emotions.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

'_Come on Maura, we're going to be late!'_

Maura groaned as the memory of Jane yelling at her for taking too long to get ready shimmered then disappear completely. The comforting sound of Jane's voice was replaced by a buzzing, almost a grinding from something like an engine, pulling Maura farther away from images of Jane and into a dark abyss. She slowly began to open her eyes to greet the dark that surrounded her. Panic instantly surged through her as she tried to remember what had happened and where she was. Her eyes continued to adjust to the dark while she started to feel around in attempt to figure out where she was. She soon found that she was in the truck of a car, and seconds after she realized that she remembered what had happened. Hoyt had come for Jane but she hadn't been home, instead Hoyt had taken Maura having his apprentice knock her out with Chloroform. Jane had been afraid something like this would happen Maura shared that fear but it hadn't been something she thought about. Maura was scared that this time Hoyt would win. She hadn't been right, but she hadn't been wrong either.

She didn't know how long she had been unconscious or how far they had gone all she could tell was the car was moving fairly slowly, no more than 45mph. The thought occurred to her she might still have her phone on her if they hadn't taken it. A small glimmer of hope presented itself as Maura shifted in the cramped truck so she could reach her phone, only to fade when her hand failed to find the phone where she usually kept it. For the first time ever she found herself regretting not letting Jane teach her self-defense (she knew basic things but they wouldn't help her with Hoyt). She went to plan B (whatever that plan may have been) and started feeling around for something she could use to defend herself. All she came up with was what she could only assume was a pipe. She held it close to her as she waited for the car to stop and Hoyt or his apprentice to come back to pull her out.

After what seemed like hours Maura felt the car pull to a stop before the engine went dead. She heard two doors open then slam shut almost in perfect sync; she waited for Hoyt and Joey, holding the pipe slightly away from her. It took a long time for the trunk latch to pop but Maura remained still, waiting for her chance. The trunk flew upwards revealing Joey but not Hoyt to Maura; she didn't wait she swung at Joey managing to clip him on the side of the head. Maura didn't even have the chance to drop the pipe when Hoyt stepped up to the car to rip the pipe from her hands and chuck it across the gravel. Joey was holding his hand to his head trying to keep the blood from his eyes the other hand he used to push himself up with help of the car. His eyes flashed with anger and a low growl escaped his throat.

"You fucking bitch," he snarled.

Maura was barely able to scream when Hoyt pressed the taser to her neck sending electricity shooting through her. She went limp almost instantly with the last thought before complete unconsciousness was of Jane.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

I sat at the far corner in Brick mulling over things in my head while Korsak and Frost worked without me. After my outburst earlier Cavanaugh had ordered me to be watched by someone at all times so I didn't do something stupid. No progress had been made at all in tracking down Hoyt and his apprentice. In most missing person cases the first 72 hours were critical Korsak and Frost had been at it for five hours already working from 7PM to midnight and were still moving forward running on almost no sleep. More than once they had suggested that I go crash somewhere and catch up on some sleep, but I couldn't every time I felt my eyelids get heavy something entered my mind waking me up completely. I needed to be on the top of my game if I wanted to save Maura, but I just couldn't bring myself to take a brake while Hoyt could be hurting her.

"I haven't been able to get a location on Dr. Isles' cell phone," Frost said aloud. "Hoyt must have turned it off; if he turns it back on we'll know about it though."

"He wouldn't be that stupid," I said lowly. "He has my number now he'll probably toss Maura's phone."

"It's still worth a shot," Korsak told me.

"Yeah I know… it's just… I'm just…" I rubbed my eyes. "How's the search going?"

"We had Frankie go with a few other officers to check out some of the other buildings, but nothing has come up yet," Frost told me.

"I bet he's happy about that," I said shaking my head to stay awake. "Did anyone find a shred of evidence at the house?"

"Two broken glasses, a jimmied lock, foot print in the wine, and what looks like foot impressions in the backyard," Korsak informed me flipping through his notes.

"One of those glasses was me," I told him. "I broke the empty glass that was on the counter when I realized she was gone."

"There's one mystery solved," Frost said attempting to smile.

"Yeah the unimportant one," I said lowly.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

A night sleeping in a chair using the desk as a pillow was never a night to catch up on missing beauty sleep. This was especially true when every half an hour the nightmares woke me up almost always causing me to fall out of my seat. By 9AM the next morning I was running purely on coffee and the need to take down Hoyt. Korsak and Frost had even pulled an all-nighter, not because they had too but because they cared about Maura too and they knew someone had to keep an eye on me. The surprising thing was even though I wanted so badly to put a bullet in Hoyt's heart I didn't have the energy to even attempt to track him down myself. Everyone's biggest concern should have been me dying of sleep deprivation- which was starting to look like a real possibility if I didn't start sleeping.

"Here Frost picked up an espresso from downstairs," Korsak said handing me a cup. "We could all use the jump start."

"When did Stanley start selling espresso?" I asked rubbing my temples. "I thought he hated this fancy shit."

"Guess he needed to bring in more cash," Korsak shrugged. "Listen Frost and I were going to go talk to the guy who sold medical supplies to Sutherland. Do you want to tag along?"

"Yeah I'll come, might as well do something," I nodded taking a large gulp of espresso. "Holy shit that's disgusting."

"Bet you're awake now," Frost's laugh carried from the far side of the office. "Come on I don't want the car to be towed."

"If your plan was to give me a caffeine rush you've succeeded," I said with a half-smile.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

The address that Drew Carroll had given us when we had gone to talk to him had led us to an old warn out building that his dealer supposedly lived in. Beyond the thick glass windows we were barely able to make out anything that lined the room, nor could we make out the man that sat behind a desk. The door was latched with a deadbolt on the inside forcing Korsak to resort to pounding on the door shouting for whoever occupied the space to open it. After a long minute of feverishly hitting the wooden door Korsak stepped back and shot a glance over at me.

"Guess he doesn't like solicitors," Korsak joked.

"Well he's not behind the desk anymore," Frost said pressing his face to the window. "Can't see him."

I took a step back from the door, down a step trying to see if there was any movement inside. There wasn't anything from the inside but from the alley way lining one side of the building a heavy metal door swung open and a man stepped out. The man took one look towards where I was standing, caught sight of the three of us and took off running in the other direction. I didn't waste any time as I pulled my Glock from the holster and started after the man leaving Korsak and Frost momentarily confused.

"Guys he's running!" I shouted over my shoulder as I sped down the alley.

"Hell," I heard Korsak groan.

There were heavy foot steps behind me without looking I could tell Frost was following me Korsak however was going in a different direction. I came around the corner that lead right onto the populated sidewalks but immediately caught sight of the suspect and continued after him. People dodged out of my way when they saw me waving my gun it was always heard to push through a crowd just by shouting you were with the police, people had the tendency to crowd closer when they heard police. I started to close the gap between us as he hesitated in which direction to take at a cross-walk. Then just as I was about to tackle him to the ground he kept running not once bothering to look over his shoulder.

"Stop!" I shouted after him.

I stayed on his heels the entire time as he dodged through the ever growing crowd of people. Frost was falling farther and farther behind as the chase continued towards what I thought was the second block. As we neared the end of the block the man looked as if he was about to run into an alley when he abruptly turned towards the street and ran into traffic. Without thinking I spun on my heel to follow him, not wanting to allow him the chance to escape. I really wish I hadn't, the next thing I knew the hood of a car knocked my legs from under me sending my body slamming into the front windshield before violently throwing me to the ground. Around me the world was spinning, people where shouting and horns were blaring at me and other cars that had stopped. My head started to pound and my ears began to ring, but I managed to stand and raise my gun in the direction I had been heading in a half-attempt to stop the fleeing man.

My vision kept swimming in and out of focus as I stood there. After a minute longer of searching for the suspect I let my arm drop to my side the gun growing heavy in my grip. The man Drew Carroll had lead us too had gotten away; it was useless to try and pursue him farther when I couldn't see straight. I slid my gun back into its holster while leaning into a nearby car for support feeling uneasy. My focus shifted to making sure I wasn't badly injured; I didn't feel any broken bones in my arms or legs the only injuries I most likely sustained were cuts and bruises and possibly a concussion.

"Jane! Jesus Jane are you alright?" Frost asked running over to me. "What the hell happened?"

"I almost had him…" I muttered under my breath. "That damn car came out of nowhere."

"You aren't looking to hot Jane," Frost said taking a hold of my elbow. "Maybe you should sit down and wait for the EMT to get here."

I didn't argue I didn't have the strength too. The cold metal bumper of the car scrapped at my back as I slid down to sit on the asphalt. I don't know how long I sat there with Frost standing over me and Korsak still MIA, but suddenly I heard a siren. It was hard to make out from where I sat looking up over the tops of cars however I could see the red and white lights of the ambulance flashing attempting to maneuver through the traffic caused by me. The throbbing in my head hadn't dulled much instead it had increased with the growing screech of alarms produced by the ambulance. Finally after what seemed like forever the sirens stopped as the large red and white box they called an emergency vehicle came to a stop two cars away from where I sat. Two medics – one male one female – jumped out of the vehicle the woman jogging over to me, the man throwing open the back doors and pulling out a medical bag.

Suddenly I found myself being poked and prodded by both of the EMT's as they checked for internal bleeding, broken bones, concussions and any other type of injury. The male medic propped my chin on his thumb and forefinger lifting my head enough so he could look into my eyes easily. He pulled a pen-like thing out of his pocket (something I realized was a penlight) flashed it into my eyes moving it back and forth up and down testing my response. I pushed his hand away as my vision finally started to clear, not wanting to concern myself with any farther pointless testing.

"Get off me I'm fine," I told him.

"You just ran into traffic and managed to get hit by a car Jane," Frost reminded me shaking his head.

"Yeah I did and I'm fine," I assured him. "I've been hit before when pursuing a suspect."

"Not by a car," Frost said to jog my memory. "A bat yes, swinging door yes, car no…"

"Can you tell me your name?" the female medic asked ignoring Frost and my argument.

"Can you tell me yours?" I asked smartly. "Detective Jane C. Rizzoli, Boston Homicide, badge number Victor 825. That good enough?"

"Your friend seems to be alright," the female medic said to Frost. "She may have a minor concussion, so just keep an eye on her. Detective Rizzoli I'm sure you're use to small cuts and bruises, you'll be sore for a few days but you can go back to work."

As the two medics packed up and left I turned to Frost grinning like a fool.

"I think they only did that because they didn't want to deal with me," I laughed.

"Jane- I don't want to deal with you," Frost smiled and offered me a hand.

"Where's Korsak?" I asked surveying the area around us.

"Couldn't tell you," Frost shrugged. "Probably taking a nap somewhere."

Of course as Frost and I moved out of the middle of the street the unmarked police car we had taken to talk to the Carroll's distributor pulled up to the curb. Not only was Korsak in the front seat but the suspect was in the back seat a snarl on his face and hands cuffed behind his back. He rolled down the window and flashed a grin at Frost and me.

"Idiot ran right into the car," Korsak told us. "All I had to do was cuff him."

"Where the hell did you go?" I asked leaning down to speak eye to eye. "You were gone long enough for the EMT's to check me over and leave."

"What happened?" Korsak asked.

"Oh you know I just became best friends with a windshield," I replied with a shrug. "But I'm fine, let's just get back to the station and question this asshole. We've wasted enough time chasing this idiot."

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

I stood propped against the one way mirror in the interrogation room keeping to myself while Korsak hammered the suspect (who had given us the name Harris but nothing more) with questions. Harris had stayed fairly calm and quiet after we had removed his handcuffs and thrown him into the chair. He was intent on maintaining his innocence but he was slowly wearing down, giving certain things that would give us means to charge him with at least fraud and possession of controlled substances. I really wanted to push him on the matter of Charles Hoyt and Connor Sutherland, but every time I moved forward Korsak would hold up his hand telling me to wait.

"Look buddy I'm a licensed doctor I have all the permits I need to have possession of those drugs," Harris said for the hundredth time.

"We're still checking up on those," Korsak said. "But just because you can legally have those substances it's still illegal to sell them to people."

"What proof do you have that I've been illegally selling them?" Harris asked crossing his arms across his chest.

"Connor Sutherland led us to you," Korsak informed him, giving the impression Sutherland was still alive and in our custody.

"That security guard that helped that Surgeon guy escape?" Harris inquired with a confused look. "That son of a bitch sold is implicating me now?!"

"We never said that," Korsak reminded him. "But now we can connect you to him."

"Damnit…" Harris realized he had messed up.

His entire demeanor changed, his shoulders slumped and his face became grim. He started to get this guilty look that most suspects got when they had been caught. At least that was true for the ones that felt remorse for what they had done or had been dragged into something without even knowing.

"Why don't you help yourself out and come clean," Korsak advised him. "You'd be doing us all a big favor."

"Why the hell would I do that?" Harris asked glaring at Korsak.

This time Korsak let me come forward and speak, if he wouldn't give us what we needed when we asked maybe a pissed off cop would sway him to talk. I place my hands firmly on the table and leaned forward to get closer to Harris.

"I suggest you do what Detective Korsak had advised you to do," I told him.

"Screw off," Harris became defiant.

"Look Harris I've had a really bad week and I could care less about you," I told him. "I mean because of you I was hit by a car, so I'm pretty pissed. Not to mention this 'Surgeon guy' has my best friend and is probably torturing her. I suggest you start talking."

"What do I care?" Harris asked snarling.

"Because I have nothing to lose if something were to happen to you in custody," I threatened him.

"She isn't serious?" Harris asked looking at Korsak for help.

Korsak sat back in his seat and shrugged; he was getting tired of Harris. It wasn't like I would actually do something to him, but I was getting close to slamming his face into the table and making him talk.

"Fine, fine whatever you want," Harris said throwing his hands up.

Korsak tossed him a pen and pad of paper, meaning for Harris to write down what he knew after he explained it to us. I wouldn't get to stay and listen to him; Korsak wanted me to go home and rest. Even though I really didn't want to sleep while Maura was forced to endure the same terror I had gone through I just couldn't function any longer if I didn't get some sleep. I left just as Harris started explaining what he knew.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

Maura had no more strength to fight, no more energy to shout, and no more tears left to shed. After what she believed was only a day of being taunted by Hoyt and basically tortured by Joey she found herself beat. She didn't know how long Hoyt would keep her alive or how long it would take Jane to rescue her, but her hope was already starting to dwindle. In the back of her mind she realized this is what Jane must have gone through in that brief hour Hoyt had had her. Jane was strong and a fighter, able to take a large amount of pain before folding – if she ever did fold – Maura however wasn't like Jane; she had never had to deal with a situation this bad. She started to wonder how Jane did it and how even after she had been beaten down and almost killed on several occasions managed to go back to work the next day.

Heavy footsteps coming from the stairs brought Maura's attention to the door, waiting for whatever was going to happen next. Hoyt stepped through the door his gaze falling on Maura instantly spreading a grin across his face.

"Joey informed me that Jane got into an accident today," he said. "She ran into traffic and was hit by a car while pursuing a suspect."

Maura's heart sank- Jane had to have been hurt, probably enough to have her sent to the ER. She found herself more worried about Jane then about herself, something typical of her.

"Don't worry Dr. Isles she's alright. At least for now…"

"Don't you dare touch her," Maura grew fierce.

"You're in no position to make threats," Hoyt said smiling. "By tomorrow evening I'll have Jane and will finally be able to finish what I started… you on the other hand…"

Maura felt dread creep up on her; whatever Hoyt did to Jane she would be forced to watch before she herself fell victim to him.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

I was half way home when my cell rang, the caller ID reading Unknown. Most of the time I would just ignore unknown numbers, but for some reason this time I answered it.

"Detective Rizzoli," I answered.

"It appears your investigation hasn't progressed any farther," the man, who I recognized instantly as Hoyt, said. "I would have thought you would be cutting every corner to save poor Dr. Isles."

My grip on the phone tightened almost to the point I thought I might break it. Words were forming on the tip of my tongue but I was unable to form a sentence.

"I assure you she's still alive, but time is ticking Jane…"

In the background I could hear a woman shouting, pleading with someone who wasn't Hoyt. Even though I couldn't make out the words I knew it was Maura and she was shouting at me but not loud enough for me to understand.

"I'm getting closer Hoyt," I said in a low growl. "The next time you hear my voice will be when I kill you."

"You seem so damn sure of yourself," Hoyt said harshly. "Do you really want to risk the doctor's life like that just so you can have your revenge?"

"She isn't a part of this Hoyt," I warned him.

"She wasn't, but because of you she is," Hoyt informed me. "Tick tock Jane, you're running out of time."

The line went dead just as I was about to farther argue with him. My blood started to boil again causing me to slam my fist into the dash board. Hoyt was toying with me, getting as much pleasure out of my suffering before he finally came after me. I had to work faster.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

Almost an hour after Hoyt had called I found myself standing in the front entrance of the house face to face with Casey. He supposedly had been passing by and had stopped to check up on me and make sure I wasn't about to do something I would regret. I didn't believe him for a second – tomorrow Korsak would get an ear full about this. Nevertheless Casey followed me into the family room and took a seat on the opposite side of the couch from me. Neither of us said anything for a long time it was easy to see Casey was trying to work things out in his head to comfort me but he knew it would be pointless. Maura was his friend too and even though they hadn't known each other for long they cared about one another mostly because they had me in common.

"Are you guys any closer to finding Hoyt?" he finally asked.

"Not really, we've managed to narrow down the places he could be holed up at but so far nothing has panned out…" I replied dryly. "But after that call today I may see Hoyt sooner than I hoped."

"What call?" Casey asked, lost.

"Hoyt," I replied shortly.

"Christ Jane," Casey shook his head. "Are you sure you should be alone?"

"I'm ready for him if he comes after me," I said. "My priority is getting Maura out of there unharmed."

"Even if it costs you your life?" Casey pushed.

"Even if it costs me my life," I repeated.

Casey sighed as he leaned back into the cushions. The case of the matter was closed, there wouldn't be any farther discussion and Casey knew he couldn't stop me.

"I know I can't change your mind," he said.

"And you won't," I confirmed.

"At least let me stay here for tonight so you're not alone," he offered.

"Go ahead; maybe I'll sleep with you out on the couch," I agreed. "Just don't get any ideas."

"I'm here for you, not for me," he said.

"You're a good guy Casey," I said lowly. "I appreciate that you've stuck with me through everything…"

Casey smiled slightly before patting my knee and giving a reassuring squeeze. I could always count on his support.


	11. Chapter 11

**Okay readers I thought I would spoil you with another chapter this week. This was a fast one to type and is shorter than the last few. I really Hope you like reading this chapter as much as I did reading it. So until chapter twelve is done and up thank you for reading and as always enjoy.**

Chapter 11: Captured

Eleven thirty in the morning the police department was buzzing, everything moving swiftly no one seemed to take even a momentary pause. Things almost seemed normal downstairs for most of the subcategories inside the precinct – narcotics, major crimes, special victims unit even the evidence locker was filled with activity. Upstairs in Homicide it was a different, Korsak and Frost had already gone out to follow up on a lead given to them by Harris, two other detectives I had no experience with sat at their desks typing at a slow pace. Things here with me weren't normal at all, there was no joking, no laughing, no Maura, the place was covered with a gloom. It was probably more of my perception of the office that made it so cold, knowing Maura was missing had changed the air completely. Not even the idea of IA coming in to tell me I was being formally removed the case bothered me- they could do what they wanted to my job if Maura was severely injured or killed because of me I wouldn't have a place at BPD any longer.

Even though last night I had gotten the most sleep I've had since the start of the case I felt weak and tired. There was also a dull pain that radiated through my body constantly, caused by being slammed into a windshield proceeded by being thrown into the pavement. My back, thigh and stomach were covered in bruises having taken the brunt of the hit; my face and neck had sustained a large amount of small cuts that were common occurrences after being hit by a car. I looked like hell and everyone took notice to it, giving me sideways glances or staring at me as I passed by. Under normal circumstances I would have said something to get them all to quit, but I let it go. _I never agree with your methods… just promise you'll be careful…_ maybe being careful was the wrong thing to do, maybe I had to act without thinking (like I usually did) and ignore the consequence that I may not make it out.

"Rizzoli my office," Cavanaugh said sticking his head into the room. "We need to talk."

I glanced down at the scars on my hands before I pushed myself out of the chair and slowly made my way to Cavanaugh, who held the door open for me. He walked next to me as we walked down the hall towards his office. Over the years I had been a homicide detective I'd had different Lieutenants who I worked under such as Joe Grant and I had visited that office often. If Cavanaugh ever ordered me into his office it usually meant someone had gotten pissed off because of a warrant I tried to obtain or because of unorthodox methods I sometimes resorted to when the situation called for that. Those times I was usually accompanied by either Korsak or Frost or both, this time I was alone but not with Cavanaugh- Captain Wolfe and the Deputy Chief of Police both were present as well. From the smug look on Wolfe's face I knew in my gut that something had happened, which wasn't good for me or Maura.

"You look like hell Rizzoli," Wolfe said snidely as I entered the office with Cavanaugh.

"Yeah this is what happens when you do real police work," I shot at him.

Wolfe didn't seem to expect my snide remark because the smug look he once had faded some. Cavanaugh sighed with a shake of his head as he took a seat behind his desk; he agreed with me fully but he didn't want to have to deal with it today.

"Detective we wanted to talk to you about your actions regarding the case you're currently involved with," the Chief said in attempt to avoid a shouting match. "You should probably take a seat."

"I'll stand," I said. "I assume this is about my outburst the other day?"

"Among other things, yes," the Chief said. "I understand this case if extremely personal to you, and I understand that every so often two officers go at each other's throats I myself am no exception to the fact."

"Alright," I said nodding- I knew where this was going.

"But that doesn't mean there aren't ramifications," he continued. "You're an outstanding officer, Detective, but you've been walking a thin line recently."

"Why? Because I'm connected with Hoyt?" I asked. "Or because the department wouldn't listen to me when I told them Hoyt was planning to escape again?"

"Take it easy Rizzoli," Cavanaugh warned me.

"I was leaning more towards the IA investigation into your actions a month or two ago with the shooter," the Chief explained. "You're actions then and now raise the question if you are fit for active duty."

"You've got to be kidding me," I said grudgingly.

Wolfe leaned forward in his seat his cold stare making me shift uncomfortably. He was one creepy SOB.

"Cut the bullshit Rizzoli," he said harshly. "We've found that you're emotionally unstable and it would be best if you were removed from the force."

"Excuse me?" I said bewildered.

"What Captain Wolfe means Detective is that we feel it would be best for the department if you took some time off," the Chief tried to rectify the situation. "Until you've been cleared by a psychiatrist the Chief of Police has requested that you be suspended with pay until farther notice."

"You're kicking me off the case?" I asked not believing what I was hearing. "Cavanaugh they can't be serious!"

"I'm afraid they are Rizzoli," Cavanaugh said sadly. "There's nothing I can do."

I had been holding in my rage the entire time I stood here, but suddenly the dam broke and I lost control.

"This is your Goddamned solution?! Suspending me from the case and department?!" I shouted at the Chief and Wolfe. "Maura, my _partner_, is the prisoner of Charles Hoyt and you want to suspend me pending investigation now?! You can't be fucking serious! For God's sake do you remember what Hoyt did not just to me but all of those innocent people?! Does that not mean anything to you?!"

"Detective-" the Chief rose and attempted to calm me down.

"No you know what fine I'll take the suspension- screw that why don't you go ahead and fire me? Because no matter what you do I'm going to find Maura with or without the departments help," I screamed.

I had had enough, the room shook when I slammed the door behind me as I stormed down the hall towards the elevators. No one from Cavanaugh's office followed me, probably in shock. If they were claiming I was emotionally unstable me shouting and them and storming out wasn't going to help my case. I punched the down arrow on the elevator my foot tapping impatiently while I waited.

"Hey Jane," Korsak came up behind me. "What's going on?"

"I've been suspended," I told him. "I'm going home."

"They suspended you?" Korsak asked in disbelief. "Don't they understand there's a life at stake?"

"They do but they don't care," I said. "It's up to you and Frost to take Hoyt down… please find Maura."

Korsak seemed to be at a loss of words when the elevator doors slid open and I stepped in the elevator. As the doors slid shut I saw Korsak shaking his head while he mumbled something to himself. I punched the metal doors as the elevator descended to the departments lobby. It was painfully obvious what I now had to do. It was clear I would have to do this on my own and hope Korsak and Frost could figure things out before it was too late. I trusted them indefinably to find Maura, but I wasn't about to sit back and wait I was going to act.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

Cavanaugh turned to the Deputy Chief of Police and Captain Wolfe after Detective Rizzoli stormed out of his office. He didn't appreciate it when people called out one of his men, they were some of the hardest working cops in Boston; Jane Rizzoli was the best he'd seen in a long time. She was overly dedicated to the force, her partners, and most defiantly the medical examiner; a rare thing to find these days. Cavanaugh wanted to beat the smug look off Wolfe's face the longer they lingered there.

"Well I'm glad we've finally taken care of that," Wolfe said.

"You could have handled it better," Cavanaugh told him.

"Detective Rizzoli could have handled it better," Wolfe shot back.

"Get off your high horse Wolfe," Cavanaugh snapped. "You're grasping at straws, there is absolutely no evidence to support Rizzoli is emotionally unstable or that her actions regarding the shooter were anything but by the book."

"Lieutenant, Captain both of you cut the crap," the Chief said. "I don't like it any more than you do Cavanaugh I respect Detective Rizzoli as much as you, but right now it's probably best she isn't involved in this case again."

Cavanaugh dropped the pen he had been playing with in his hands. He was starting to wonder who was pulling the strings around the department. It really didn't seem to be the Chief or Deputy Chief of Police.

"If anything happens to Rizzoli because of you, Wolfe, I will personally make sure you get your ass fired," Cavanaugh warned Wolfe.

The Deputy Chief of Police frowned but didn't say a word.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

The decision I had come too in the past hour weighed heavily on my mind. If I did what had to be done there was no guarantee that I would make it out alive, no guarantee Maura would make it out alive. But if I didn't do it Maura would die believing I gave up on finding her, that I had abandoned her because I was too damn afraid to face Hoyt again. I picked up my phone and searched through the call history to find the unknown number Hoyt had used. Trying to find the phone number was out of the question, I would have to try to send a text to the contact. I pulled up the text and swiftly typed my message to Hoyt.

**I want to make a deal.**

My finger hovered over the word 'send' debating on whether or not I wanted to go through with it. I swallowed hard and hit send. The phone vibrated seconds later lighting up the screen with words.

_**I didn't think you made deals with murderers Jane?**_

I bit my lip chewing over the words in my brain, slowly typing out my reply as the words came together.

**I don't, but I've been put in a position where I have no other choice.**

I hit send. Time seemed to slow as I waited for the reply seconds became agonizing minutes. Finally the phone vibrated again.

_**Has the department you've dedicated your entire life too finally turned its back on you?**_

It was daunting thought that Hoyt already knew I had been suspended without question. My mind was made up I had to do this; I typed my response.

**That's irrelevant. I'm more concerned about the deal.**

The response this time from Hoyt came fast, not even giving me enough time to set it down.

_**What kind of deal are you proposing Jane?**_

I let out a breath I hadn't realized I had been holding, this was it.

**A trade, her life for mine, you let her go and you can have me.**

Hoyt's reply was short and almost sarcastic.

_**Such a romantic.**_

A low growl rose in my throat – I didn't like being screwed with.

**Do we have a deal?**

When the reply finally came my heart raced and sank at the same time, there was no turning back now.

_**The deal stands if you come alone, unarmed and without your phone. If I even so much as suspect you've notified someone to trail along as backup I will kill her. You'll know where to go in the next hour.**_

I set my phone down on the coffee table; I was going to walk right into Hoyt's hands like I had done before… only this time I wouldn't have a gun and Korsak wouldn't show up to save me. Evening out my breath I went back into the room where I had spent countless nights with Maura to drop my gun on the bed and pick up a long distance mini communication radio the department had been equipped with recently. If I could get in there without Hoyt finding it on me I might have the chance to get a call into dispatch, and maybe just maybe Maura and I could get out alive. After I was set I went out to the kitchen found a pad of paper and a pen and started a note incase Korsak or Frost or Casey realized I was gone.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

Casey had just pulled up to the curb a couple houses down from Dr. Isles' planning to check up on Jane after Korsak had called him to tell him Jane had been suspended, when he saw her backing her car out of the driveway. He didn't think there was anywhere she would need) or want) to be other than the station so he put his car in gear and followed a short distance behind her. While he followed her he pulled out his cell and dialed her number, only to get voicemail. Casey started to grow suspicious of whatever Jane was up to but he didn't bother to call Korsak or Frost thinking it would be a waste of time.

The longer he followed behind her the traffic started to lessen immensely, the large buildings started shrinking in size and amount, and the paved city roads started to become broken and uneven. This part of Boston was where abandoned warehouses inhabited with few houses here and there and the trees started to grow. Casey had no idea what Jane could possibly want out here – except if she was doing unsanctioned police work, which was his guess. The clock on the dash board read six and the sky outside already was starting to turn red with the setting sun. Casey pulled over to the side of the road as Jane pulled into a parking lot of a new looking gas station and watched.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

Hoyt had texted me almost exactly one hour after we had made our deal, giving me a location to go to- a new gas station that had been open only two months. I wasn't sure how to feel about the set up, it was a public place with six or seven cars there almost constantly because it was one of the few stops between Boston and smaller Massachusetts cities, but it was also far enough from the heart of Boston to be a problem if Korsak and Frost figured out what happened. The car engine cut out after I turned off the ignition and stepped out onto the freshly laid asphalt, trying to look for anyone suspicious. Hoyt had said 6:30; I had thirty minutes to wait for whatever was in store. I pushed myself onto the hood of my car and waited, watching everyone closely.

As each minute started ticking away the lump in my stomach grew heavier and heavier. The realization that it would all be over soon was too much to take in- I didn't know how to take what was coming. Then again I didn't know how things would play out Hoyt had been in jail for a long time planning how he would kill me and cause me the most pain possible I wasn't ready. I pushed myself off the hood and started to pace back and forth in front of the car my nerves getting the best of me. The wait was proving to be the most agonizing thing I had encountered in a long time – it was only made worse because I didn't really know what I was waiting for… I continued to pace until a stationary van I hadn't notice pull in caught my attention. No one was in it, and I couldn't see anyone inside the gas station. As I started over towards it cautiously I felt strong arms wrap around me and a hand roughly shoved a cloth into my face. Straightaway I realized that it was soaked in chloroform, it was already starting to take effect. I struggled against my captor to no avail as the chloroform started to blur my vision and make me go weak. The last thing that I knew was happening was van doors being thrown open and then being tossed hap hazardously into the trunk before losing consciousness.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

Joey slammed the doors on the van shut and headed over to the detective's car. The plan was to knock Jane out, get her back to the building and Hoyt would take it from there. But first he needed to move her car. The gas station clerk had been easy to take care of, no one would know where Jane was, which was perfect. Joey worked fast too turn around the car and drive it into a small opening on the other side of the road, putting it in neutral so it would roll into a tree and look like a crash before heading back over to the van. With one last look over his shoulder he got in and sped off towards his second home where he had been housing Hoyt.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

Casey almost jumped out of his car and ran over to help Jane, but something had stopped him. He reached down for his phone to call the police but it beeped at him the he had no bars. He should have stopped the man; he should have gone in and used the gas stations phone. Instead he threw his car in gear and started after Jane and her captor. The feeling that he was about to get into something he really didn't want to be involved with. It had dawned on him that Jane had spoken to Hoyt again and that this was connected to that, but he couldn't be sure. He continued to follow the van as the light was swallowed by the darkness. Casey turned off the headlights on his car.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

My head rolled back as I started to come too, the effects of the chloroform finally starting to wear off. From off in the distance I thought I heard someone crying or speaking, but I couldn't tell I was still swimming through the haze brought on by a concussion mixed with drugs. My hands were tightly tied behind me on the chair I had been propped on and ropes tugged tightly on my legs almost cutting of circulation. I dropped my chin to my chest and shook my head trying so hard to clear my vision and organize the scattered, meaningless things in my brain.

"Jane, Jane please wake up."

This time I heard it clearly, a voice that was heavy with concern broke through the fog that encompassed my head. Maura it was Maura; I looked over to my right and saw her through blurred eyes, somehow I mustered a smile.

"I promised you I would protect you," I said my words slurred from the drug. "Everything's going to be alright…"

"Jane," I could tell she was crying, but I didn't know why. "I love you so much Jane…"

I realized Maura had already lost any hope of living through this; she was trying to make sure I knew she loved me before she died. My heart broke – I had allowed it to get this far.

"I love you too Maur…" I said sadly. "Did Hoyt hurt you?"

"No," she shook her head. "He used his taser once but…"

"It's alright Maur," I assured her. "We're going to get out of this alright? I'll make sure of that."

But even as the words left my mouth I had my doubts, for the second time in my life I actually believed I wouldn't make it.

"I-I trust you Jane…" Maura finally said sniffling. "You found me didn't you?"

I didn't reply I really hadn't found her I had traded my life for hers but it was obvious Hoyt wasn't going to keep up with his end of the bargain.

"No matter what happens Maura don't let them get to you," I told her. "If you can do that I'll get us out of here."

I heard a door open somewhere to my left followed by two sets of heavy footsteps. Hoyt and his apprentice stepped into the room, and straightaway I knew who the second killer was- Joey Miles the reporter I had met at the fundraiser with Maura. I felt so stupid he had walked right up to me and spoken to me… I had been the one to introduce Maura to him as well. Joey stood back while Hoyt came over to me flashing a triumphant smile and holding a scalpel- his weapon of choice. The cold steel pressed against my skin, drawing blood. My body tensed in fear, it was that night all over again but now the stakes were much higher.

"It's good to finally see you again Jane," Hoyt said into my ear. "I've been waiting for this for a long time."

"Go to hell," I said through clenched teeth.

Hoyt's laughter echoed off the walls giving me the feeling of a horror movie. Joey was even laughing at me. I couldn't help but feel defeated already, but I couldn't let Maura know I already knew what would happen to at least me.


	12. Chapter 12

**So here's chapter 12 took longer than I expected but I finally got it done. Things will be wrapping up here in the next couple of chapters. Thank you readers for your support and sticking with me. I'll have chapter 13 ASAP. Until then as always enjoy.**

Chapter 12: Torture

Deep down I knew Hoyt wouldn't keep up with his end of the deal, but I had held on to the hope he would. I hadn't thought that he would allow Joey to hurt Maura though; it was too much to bear. Hoyt stayed back every so often taunting me but not advancing at me at all; he was waiting for something. I fought at my restraints trying to break free so I could stop Joey from hurting Maura, more than once I had pulled so hard my chair had crashed to the hard concrete. Maura had taken everything head on, but she was starting to feel the full effect of the torture.

"Stop please!" I begged. "She can't take it! Hurt me damnit I'm the one you wanted!"

Hoyt grinned at Joey when he threw Maura back against the wall with a gut wrenching smack. If I had eaten anything that day it most certainly would have come back up; I spit out the bile in my mouth.

"Give her the morphine then meet me upstairs, we have some things to take care of," Hoyt finally spoke to Joey.

I couldn't understand why Hoyt would want to give Maura morphine to take her out of the pain they had just caused her. Hoyt was already out of the room when Joey came back from the far side holding a syringe with the morphine dripping from the needle. Maura tried to fight him off but she was worn out so she let Joey wipe I stop on her arm with an antiseptic. He pushed the needle effortlessly into her vein. Almost immediately I could see the change in Maura; her muscles relaxed and she looked to grow tired. I had been on morphine multiple times in the past the effect of it was instant and the bliss it brought on was enough to make a person act funny. It was a small relief that Maura wouldn't be suffering through much of the injuries they caused her. She probably wouldn't remember most of it or if she did the memory would be fuzzy and unclear to her.

"We'll be back Jane," Joey said when he tossed the syringe away. "Don't get any ideas."

"Wouldn't dream of it," I growled.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

Casey cursed and threw his phone into the passenger seat. About a mile from the gas station he had lost service on his phone, making it impossible for him to call the police unless he left. He couldn't bring himself to leave his crouched position after her heard Jane shouting something he couldn't hear. Every nerve in his body told him to run in and help, to save Jane and Maura, but his military training told him to wait, told him to clarify the situation before he went in. It was vital he knew what he was going into before he actually acted on it, unless he wanted to end up dead. With a grunt he pushed himself from his hiding spot and headed back towards his car he had hidden in the woods, praying he had left his gun in the trunk.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

I twisted my arm in an attempt to turn on my com radio that by some miracle had been left on my person. My arms were tied behind me in such a way it made it impossible, whether or not they knew I had a way to call dispatch wasn't the question, they had done it that way because I had escaped before. It was there it was there goal to assure I had no freedom of movement at all. _Damnit… how do they miss the com radio but know to tie me so fucking tight I can't get it on?!_ I jerked my arm forward again, feeling the chair give slightly before feeling a sharp pain rip through my arm. _Think Jane, there's got to be something you can use…_ It hit me that there was something I could use- someone actually- Maura hadn't be bound like me if I could get her to focus she could untie me and we could get the hell out of here and call for help.

"Maura?"

Maura's body was completely limp against the wall; she didn't respond to me but a moan escaped her lips. I wasn't going to get any help from her while she was under the effects of the morphine, getting the ropes loose enough I could move my hands was up to me. There was no sound coming from upstairs or anywhere, leaving me to only guess where Hoyt and Joey went. I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, trying to clear my mind before I tensed my muscles and pulled with every ounce of strength I had against my restraints. The chair creaked against the pressure giving a little bit more before I ran out of energy. If I had another six hours maybe I would be able to break the chair back, but I didn't and I wouldn't. I glanced over at Maura who was starting to slowly come out of the sleep the morphine had brought on.

"Maura, babe, hey look at me."

She lazily looked up at me, her eyes unfocused and droopy.

"Maura I need you to do something for me okay? Can you do that?"

Maura nodded groggily as she started to focus, blinking a few times to clear her vision. Her attention wasn't fully on me yet, half of her was listening to me the other half was probably trying to keep her awake.

"What do you need?" her head dropped slightly as she spoke.

"I need you to loosen my restraints or find me something I can use to cut through it," I told her. "You've gotta hurry Maur."

Maura was slow standing up, having to use the wall to support herself. Her feet shuffled on the ground and she stumbled frequently as she headed over to the far side of the room. She had been here longer than I had so I trusted that she knew what she was doing. I glanced nervously at the door, expecting Hoyt or Joey to return at any second. Maura was just turning around, a pair of scissors in her hand when the footsteps overhead started. She seemed to know she needed to move fast because she forced herself away from the wall I took large steps towards me. I could tell she was still feeling the effect of the morphine but it was gradually wearing off.

"I couldn't find a scalpel…" she said only two feet from me.

"It's okay you did good, you did good," I said forcing a smile. "I've got a radio on me if we can get out of the basement I might be able to call dispatch…"

"It won't work down here?" she asked as she started to saw at one of the ropes.

"No, Joey is always messing with his cell. I assume it's because there's no service here…" I told her. "But I should be able to – Maura!"

Maura went crashing into the floor eight feet away having been thrown by Joey who I hadn't known had returned. He was right on top of her seconds later pulling her up by her hair and throwing her back into the wall. Maura cried out in pain and I could do nothing to stop it the rope had barely been torn by the scissors. But the restraints had been weakened so I pulled against them trying to get one hand free in hopes I could help Maura. Joey had grabbed some miscellaneous rope and was feverishly tying Maura's hands together in front of her. Maura kicked out, catching Joey in the side, but he didn't take notice as he pulled the knot tight and backed away.

"You think you're so damned clever don't you?" he asked to no one in particular. "Trying to get out of your restraints, well guess what Jane it ain't gonna happen. Not with me here."

"You can't do a Goddamned thing to me," I challenged him. "You're just another one of Hoyt's pawns."

"Are you so sure of that Jane?" he circled behind me and before I knew it took a handful of my hair, yanking me back. "Hoyt has given me permission to do whatever I want to you as long as it doesn't kill you."

"Without his watchful eye?" I spit fighting back the tears that threatened to spill at the pain. "He doesn't like you that much Joe."

Joey's boot connected with the back of the chair with enough force to knock me forward and send me crashing into the ground. Everything went black for the fraction of a second after my head slammed into the concrete floor; it lasted only seconds before I was pulled back into consciousness. I felt blood trickle down from under my eye and I could already feel my cheek starting to swell. Moments later the chair and I were being lifted back into the upright position the pain slicing through me like lightning.

"Oh God Jane…" I could hear Maura cry as Joey came around to face me.

"Let me tell you a story Jane," Joey started. "I found Hoyt, meaning I visited him in prison and he took me as his apprentice. For month's we planned his escape and I thought I'd get a murder here and there nothing much. But I became the most loyal subject Hoyt could ask for, only I didn't like the way he did things."

"That why you used a bomb?" I asked, shaking of nausea.

"I like things to be exciting Jane, so yes that's why I used the grenade. Hoyt doesn't mind that I like to do things differently, as long as the overall meaning is still there," Joey explained. "I use the taser and the knife but I add my own flare. You know what my favorite is? Fire, I love fire… the cigarette burns on that one victim, that was me. I know smoking will kill me, but it makes people scream."

Joey reached into his pocket and produced a pack of cigarettes and a lighter. He pulled one out, stuck it in his mouth and lit up, chuckling slightly to himself. My breathing became rugged as erratic as Joey moved closer and put his hand lightly on my neck, running his thumb over my jugular. He blew smoke into my face and smiled, holding the cigarette in his mouth with his teeth. I couldn't help but cough as the cancer filled smoke invaded my airways and filled my lungs.

"Let's get started shall we?"

He walked passed me towards the back of the room; I had no idea what was kept over there but something told me I wasn't going to like it. That feeling was confirmed seconds later when I heard something being dragged across the floor and the sloshing of water. _Jesus Christ is that water?_ The last time someone had tried to drowned me was just after Patty Doyle had been arrested, my lungs burnt for a week afterwards. Worse than that was the fact that in the nightmares that had been plaguing me lately my head was being held under water as torture. It scared me more that I might go through exactly what I had been forced to endure in my nightmares, only Maura would have to witness it. Joey came to a stop in front of me with a large trough full of water. Then I felt the restraints on my arms being loosened but not for long, the next thing I knew Joey had slapped a pair of handcuffs (my handcuff which I had carried with me) onto my wrists, keeping me bound to the chair.

"What's the point of this Joey?" I asked him through clenched teeth. "What are you hoping to gain by doing this to me?"

"Nothing," he replied simply. "I consider this a reward for all of my hard work."

"Fuck you," I growled before his hand wrapped around the back of my neck and he forced my head into the water.

I held my breath as long as I could while struggling against his grip trying to resurface. My lungs felt as if they would burst after only a minute of being submerged. Just as my vision started to go black I was pulled from the water, accidently swallowing a large amount in the process. I coughed violently trying to clear the water I had taken in out of my lungs, not too much success.

"I'm alright…" I said between gulps of air. "I'm alright."

"Some people have an amazing lung capacity," Joey said. "You detective haven't been blessed with such a skill. It's a talent in itself to read when a person is about to blackout because of lack of oxygen."

"You're just as sick as Hoyt," I growled.

"I suggest you take a deep breath," he warned.

Just like that I found myself struggling to hold my breath as Joey forced me underwater again. I found myself regretting not have taken more interest in swimming lessons when I was younger. Through the water I could hear Maura shouting, pleading but nothing made sense. Joey was using physical torture on me to cause psychological torture on Maura. I had to focus on keeping her calm so Joey wouldn't get any satisfaction from the fear Maura was feeling because of him. My lungs were burning ten times more when he pulled me up this time; I coughed up the water that had made its way down my nose.

"Maura look at me," I ordered her, trying not to make eye contact with Joey. "I'm alright."

_No you're not…_ I spoke the truth only to myself.

"You think that's going to stop this Jane?" Joey asked. "I have more up my sleeve than an old mob trick."

"Maura remember our first date?" I asked her ignoring Joey. "Keep thinking of that night alright? Do that for me…"

I didn't have any time to prepare this time when Joey shoved me back into the water and held me there, one hand pressed hard against my back the other holding my head down to ensure I couldn't escape. His entire body was tensed and filled with anger as he forced me farther into the water, fully intent on killing me. For a fraction of a second I thought he would actually kill me, which kicked in my survival instinct. I twisted my body with the chair away from him only escaping his grip momentarily before he was back on me again. My lungs were on fire but I ignored it instead focusing everything on throwing my elbow back using what freedom I had with my arms and catching Joey in the ribs. I went down hard on the soaked concrete floor when Joey stumbled back in surprise. He growled but didn't advance at me while I laid there helpless, gasping for air while coughing up large amounts of water. Maura choked back her tears while she watched me recover from nearly being drowned.

"Okay I was being nice with the water," Joey said sharply. "Let's see how you do against something that really hurts."

He pulled the trough away from me before lifting me back off the floor and moving me over to a dryer area before walking back to where he had gotten the trough from. I caught Maura's eye, the emotional pain she was in was obviously shown in her eyes. Somehow I managed to flash her a smile, trying to get her spirit up to no avail. She had to watch me be hurt until it was almost too much; completely unaware of what Hoyt would do to me – us – later. Joey came back holding what looked like a large battery and jumper cables- my heart raced.

"I'll let you dry off some so I don't kill you," he said as he dropped the battery on a table. "I'll be back in an hour."

Joey left me sitting there dripping wet from the shoulder up, the idea of being hooked up to a car battery weighing heavy on my mind. Maura was completely alert now her eyes darted between me and the battery.

"Jane he's going to kill you," she cried.

"He won't kill me," I didn't sound reassuring.

"He nearly drowned you, now he wants to electrocute you?" she was hurting. "I can't watch this Jane! I can't just sit back and watch when you're being hurt!"

"Maura I know," I snapped. "I know this is hard, but me taking all of this is a hell of a lot better than him hurting you!"

"You don't have to protect me Jane," she told me. "I can handle it."

"I can't let you sacrifice yourself for me," I said feeling defeated. "It's my fault you're here… Taking whatever they throw at me is nothing compared to losing you."

"I can't lose you like this Jane," she said in a whisper.

"You won't," I promised her. "We'll get out of this. I just have to figure out how."

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

Casey dove behind a bolder when he saw headlights coming around a bend in the road. He wasn't able to make out a license plate but he managed a fleeting glimpse of the man behind the wheel- Charles Hoyt. Casey didn't know why Hoyt would be leaving Jane and Maura alone with his apprentice, but he knew he had to get back to the building and get them out before Hoyt returned and finished them off- that is if he already hadn't… With twigs snapping underneath his feet Casey took off in a sprint towards the building (almost a mile and a half away).

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

My clothes were stiff and clinging to my skin, they had dried off almost completely in the hour Joey had left us alone, but I was dripping in sweat. Just like Joey had promised he had returned after an hour and gone straight for the battery. He set it down next to my feet, carefully laying the jumper cables on top of it before pulling out a key.

"Don't try anything stupid Jane," he warned. "I'm going to take the handcuffs off."

I already knew that somewhere behind me there were more ropes that he would probably tie me back with. Once I felt the pressure of the cuffs being removed from my wrists I whipped my hands in front of me and rubbed the raw skin. I should have tried to surprise Joey before he restrained me again, but the next thing I knew rope was being wrapped around my arms and torso, pulling taught, pinning me completely to the chair. _Oh God this is insane! You're not going to make it through without serious damage… _I sucked in air and held my breath; I'd seen people who had died from being electrocuted, it didn't take much power to stop someone's heart (if you ignored the factors like health and age) it was almost always the same. _How much can I take before my heart gives out? Fuck did he even think this through?_

"This will kill me Joe," I told him. "Hoyt told you not to kill me, if you go through with this I'll die, my heart will give out before you can gain any satisfaction."

"I wouldn't be so sure," he said smartly. "What I have here is a battery from… uh… I forget what I got it from anyway it's got a good amount of voltage to it. Now a lot of people think it's the volts that kill a person, truth is it's the amps that kill you. Do you know how many amps it takes to kill a person?"

"I'm not an electrical expert," I growled.

"What about you Dr. Isles?" he turned towards Maura. "You of all people should know, being an expert in pathology."

"100 to 200 milliamps- .1 to .2 amps – is lethal," Maura said holding my gaze.

"Correct," Joey said happily. "Only 10mA or .01amps is enough to cause painful to server shock, at that strength your muscles will contract and you won't be able to let go. Once you reach 20mA or just below that your breathing will become labored before stopping at only 75mA."

"Why are you telling me this?" I asked.

"To prove to you I can almost control what I do to you," he said. "And I know that moisture can affect your resilience to the current, don't worry I'll be careful."

_Oh God, oh God, oh God…_ my mind raced as I watched Joey attach the cables to the battery before he turned to me. Using a cloth he pulled out of his back pocket he dried my sweaty palms before picking up the other ends of the cables and held them up for me to see. My eyes widened when the panic finally set in; this was beyond anything I had been put through before.

"Maura close your eyes, no matter what you hear do not open them," I nearly cried I couldn't bear to let her watch this.

The jagged teeth of the clamps dug into my skin causing me immediate searing pain in my hands. If the clamps had been any stronger they would have drawn blood. I fought back the urge to cry out in pain, the pressure was almost too much.

"Ready?" Joey asked.

He didn't give me a chance to answer, instead he reach down, turned a small dial and flicked a switch. I had been electrocuted before when I had accidentally stuck my finger into a live socket, unaware the power hadn't been cut off yet- that was nothing compared to being hooked up to what looked like a car battery. Every muscle in my body constricted, my hands clenched into fists, my heart skipped a beat before starting to race, and my teeth ground together as the current entered my body. Somehow even though I couldn't control my muscles I managed to scream, pain tearing through me. Then, just as quickly as it had started, it was over. I dripped my chin to my chest trying to even out my breath. Another hit like that and I would probably lose consciousness or my heart would stop.

"Did you feel that Jane? A tightening in your chest? An inability to clench and unclench your hands? That's what happens the electricity that flowed through you caused your muscles to seize. But you should be alright."

"You think she'll be alright?" Maura shouted suddenly. "Do you understand the damage electrocution has on not only the heart but the brain?"

"M-Maura…" I strained to speak through clenched teeth.

"It doesn't really matter what effects it has on her," he reminded Maura. "She's dead anyway."

I watched Joey reach down to turn the battery back up- it was clear he was insane.

"Maura look away!" I shouted just as I felt the shock in my hand.

This time wasn't as painful as the first I realized my body had started to go numb. I still wanted to scream however, my internal organs felt like they were on fire. But I didn't I did everything in my power not to scream. My breathing started to become severely labored after only another second. I felt my heart starting to beat erratically as consciousness slowly started to be pulled away. For a second time the current stopped flowing just as soon as it had started, but this time my heart rate wasn't returning to normal. Blackness started to creep into my vision, blocking out the sight of Maura before the black finally encompassed my vision completely. I was still aware of things but I wasn't fully conscious as my body slumped forward in the chair. The pain was getting to be too much and my body wasn't able to cope with the sudden shock, finally I slipped completely out of consciousness into a much more unwelcoming place than I had left.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

Korsak tried dialing Jane's cell for the sixth time that morning. He hadn't heard anything from her since she had left the precinct yesterday, and he was starting to worry. It wasn't like Jane to disappear completely without a good reason; she didn't have a good reason to keep from her phone even though she was suspended Korsak had every intention on relaying every bit of information to her. He should have driven over to the house to check up on her since no one else would except for one of her two brothers, the Lieutenant Colonel Casey Jones, and Frost and he. But work got the better of him; he trusted that Jane wouldn't do anything stupid that would land her in the same situation as before.

"She still isn't answering?" Frost asked from across the room.

"No," Korsak replied with a sigh.

"Maybe we should go check on her?" Frost suggested what Korsak had been thinking.

"She's probably just catching up on sleep," Korsak said, knowing full well Jane wouldn't be sleeping. "Or she's reading through every case file we have on Hoyt."

"Guess you're right," Frost agreed. "I'll swing by after work."

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

I felt heat on my face accompanied with a smell of extremely hot metal. My hands were free of the jumper cable clamps, now instead there were uniform electric burns on both the back of my hand and the palms. If I ever managed to get my hands on a gun I doubt I would be able to land a good shot. I blinked a few times as I raised my head to see what the source of the smell was. My stomach churned when I focused on Joey heating a fairly large piece of metal over an open burner. I couldn't believe he still had time to torture me; I actually found myself wishing for Hoyt to return from wherever he was.

"How much longer is this going to continue?" I asked.

"Have I already broken the great Detective Rizzoli?" Joey laughed.

"Yeah congratulations Joe," I said sarcastically. "I've had enough… I can't take anymore."

"I don't believe that for a second," he spit. "You take all of this torture just to give up?"

"You've done what you set out to do damnit," I cried. "Please just stop…"

"Jane no…" I heard Maura say.

"Please Joey… please just stop…" I pleaded.

Joey propped the metal so it was still engulfed in the flame so he could pull a gun, I hadn't realized he had, out of his waistband before coming over to me and reaching behind my legs grabbing ahold of the knot keeping me bound to the chair. He silently warned me not to do anything by pointing the gun at my head while he untied the rope and pulled it away. I stayed perfectly still as he rolled up my pant leg then went over and picked up the hot metal with a gloved hand.

"Have you ever felt burning metal on your flesh?" he asked holding the metal close to my face. "It hurts but the nerve cells stop sending feeling throughout the body after only a few seconds."

"Don't do this Joey," I begged.

"It looks like the great Detective Jane Rizzoli has finally met her match," he said.

There was a blinding pain as Joey pressed the metal to my bare skin. I started to wish I had killed Hoyt when I had the chance.


	13. Chapter 13

**Well here you go chapter 13! Unfortunately the way this chapter turned out I think one of the next two chapters will be the end. I hope so much you enjoy this chapter until I update the next chapter in the next week or so. So thank you for reading and sticking with me. I hope to see you next chapter and as always enjoy!**

Chapter 13: Hopeless

Hoyt stood over me grinning wickedly as he ran the blade of his scalpel down my jawline. I unconsciously flinched away at the touch of cold metal, my mind being elsewhere. The tears that rolled down Maura's face kept my attention on her, wishing she could be anywhere but here. I was also wishing that I could hold her hand one last time, feel the heat of her skin against mine, and feel the burning need when I kissed her. It was clear that I had let her down; I hadn't been able to protect her from Hoyt.

"So this chapter finally comes to a close," Hoyt laughed.

"You're so damn cocky Hoyt," I said scowling. "Even if I'm dead you'll have an entire precinct after you."

"You honestly believe that bothers me that I'll have a bounty on my head?" he asked. "It's nothing new."

"Would you just get it over with?" I nearly shouted. "You've beat me Hoyt… just end it already."

"I'm not letting you go so easily Jane," he said. "I want to make you suffer."

"What are you doing?!" I shouted as he moved towards Maura. "She isn't part of this don't hurt her!"

Hoyt forced Maura onto her feet pushing her towards me. She shot him a glair as she stepped forward – something I would have smiled at if the situation had been different. He stopped her a few feet away from me and pushed her down so she was on her knees. I pulled against my restraints and pushed my legs against the legs of the chair trying to force myself up. The burn Joey had caused on my leg rubbed against the chair and sent a hot burst of pain through my body causing me to lose focus on trying to get free.

"You would do anything to protect her, wouldn't you Jane?" he asked.

"It's my job to serve and protect," I replied.

"But Dr. Isles is more important to you then some stranger," Hoyt asserted.

"Of course she is," I said at a low growl. "I work with her every day we're partners."

"A partner that you a romantically involved with," he reminded me.

I didn't say anything he already knew everything it seemed.

"There's where you made your first mistake Jane. She is the one thing you can't live without and that's how I got to you. I took the one thing that matters to you and you came running. Now I'm going to make you watch as I take her life."

Hoyt grabbed Maura's shoulder with his left hand and pressed the scalpel to her throat. A whimper escaped Maura's throat followed by tears streaming down her cheeks.

"Please no…" she cried.

Hoyt started to dig the blade in and pull it across her throat. Maura cried out in pain as the scalpel broke the skin and red liquid started to run down her neck.

"Maura!" I shouted tears now running down my cheeks. "Maura!"

I'm not sure what happened next but suddenly Hoyt was on the ground and Joey was running for the other side of the room. I blinked away the tears as another man started to come into focus. Casey was standing over Maura untying her hands, a bat lay next to his foot – I assumed he had used that to knock Hoyt down. Maura and he were at my side seconds later feverishly working to pull the ropes away from my hands. I suddenly felt the pressure coming off of my wrist as the ropes fell to the ground.

"Hurry we need to get out of here," Casey told us.

Maura had just slung my arm over her shoulder and was helping me stand when Casey stumbled forward – Joey hanging onto him. Casey grabbed Joey's arm that was wrapped around his neck and threw him over his shoulder. Joey hit the ground with a loud smack but recovered quickly back onto his feet.

"Go I'll take care of him!"

I couldn't put much wait on my right leg because of the burn so Maura was left having to support me as we half jogged half limped to the staircase.

"Casey I'm not leaving you here!" I shouted back at him as Maura tried to pull me farther out of the room.

"I'll be fine," he shouted. "Go!"

I was afraid he wouldn't make it out alive. Maura basically drug me up the stairs as we tried to get out. We had no way to escape other than on foot and I wouldn't be able to make it very far on my leg. Maura must have realized that because we continued down the driveway hoping to get to the main road.

"I can't leave him Maura," I told her.

"He'll be alright Jane," Maura assured me. "We need to get help. You need to get to the hospital."

"Are we planning to walk the entire way?" I asked jokingly.

"If we have to," Maura replied.

"Are you planning on carrying me?" I asked.

"You'd like that wouldn't you?" Maura actually managed a smile.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

Frost knock on the front door to Jane and Maura's home again waiting for Jane to answer. After a minute passed by and no one answer Frost tried the door; the knob didn't budge – locked. He stepped back and looked questionably at the front of the house. Jane's car hadn't been in the driveway when he had arrived which could have meant one of two things, either Jane had gone out from some unknown reason or she had pulled the car into the garage. Frost stepped down the three steps to Maura front door and headed around the side to see if there was an unlocked door somewhere. He tried a window on the off chance Jane had left one open but everything was locked down tight. Even the backdoor was latched shut with a deadbolt and the door lock. He could have broken a window and gone in but he really didn't want to answer to Maura or Jane for the damage.

"Key… where would you put a spare key?" Frost asked himself trying to think of where a spare key could have been placed.

He lifted up a potted plant, checked the top of the door frame, even checked under the windowsill with absolutely nothing turning up. Frost knew Jane fairly well so he was sure she had hidden a key somewhere (Jane was always forgetting her keys). Finally after another fifteen minutes of looking for a nonexistent key Frost went back to his car and dug for his lock picking kit – something he realized he should have done sooner. He went back to the front door and inserted the first hook then carefully he inserted the second hook and after a few minutes of fidgeting with it he herd the lock disengage. It had been a long time since he had been forced to pick a lock but he was glad he remembered.

When he entered the house everything was eerily quiet and dark, the only light coming through the windows from outside. Frost's hand instinctively went to his gun as he moved farther into the house he now assumed to be empty. _Where is she?_ he thought. He passed the kitchen headed straight towards the bedroom and found himself looking directly at Jane's personal hand gun she had purchased over a year ago, her phone, and her badge. Frost had found it weird that IA hadn't confiscated her badge when they suspended her but had taken her gun, but he wasn't about to ask IA why. He left the gun and badge where they were and went back out to the kitchen. It was obvious something was up, even though Jane didn't carry her personal weapon with her as a concealed weapon she always had it locked in her car, but now it was lying out in the open.

Frost glanced around looking for any sign that might tell him where Jane had gone, but he didn't find anything, not even a note. He let out a breath of frustration before he turned on his heel about ready to leave then he saw it. Lying on the floor no more than eight feet from him was a piece of paper that must have been knocked onto the floor somehow.

"Shit…"

Frost finally understood why Jane hadn't spoken to anyone since the other day. The note he had in his hand explained everything and even gave him a location of a gas station just outside of the city limits. He pulled out his phone and called Korsak who answered almost immediately.

"Something happen?" Korsak answered.

"We've got a problem," Frost said. "I know why Jane hasn't been answering her phone."

"What happened?" Korsak sounded worried.

"I guess Jane made a deal with Hoyt, she must have gone to meet him last night," Frost started. "She left us a location of a gas station just outside of Boston… Korsak if she went in alone with no weapon and no backup we could be too late."

"I'll call Cavanaugh, we'll have a team together within the hour, get back to the precinct now," Korsak said and hung up.

Frost hoped that he was wrong and that Jane and Maura were still alive and alright.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

"Jane come on we have to go," Maura was urgently trying to get me to follow her.

"Maura we can't get to the main road, and if we hope to make it anywhere in this forest that fucking is everywhere then we need a weapon," I told her.

"We don't have time Jane," Maura warned me.

"No one has come up yet," I said. "I'm starting to think they're dead… Even Casey."

"Don't think like that Jane," she told me.

"Damnit…" I slammed my hand against the car. "We'll get help and come back…"

"What about your radio?" Maura reminded me as she grabbed my hand and started pulling me away.

"The radio!" I cried. "I forgot. Christ I hope it didn't get fried when I got wet…"

I limped behind Maura as we made our way across the open lawn (if you could call it that) towards the wooded area. All the while I was trying to turn the com radio on and get it to the right frequency, and I was having no luck. Maura pulled on my arm harder trying to get me to pick up the pace, but I couldn't my leg was hurting and I couldn't get the damn radio to work. In the back of my mind I was hoping that Korsak and Frost had found my note and where on their way to the gas station with backup- it was a long shot they would find us but right now it was all we had.

"Jane please hurries up," Maura begged.

"I've almost got it Maur, hang on," I told her.

Just as I thought I had gotten the radio to where I needed it a metallic clank rang out, my leg buckled underneath me with a sickening crack and I went sprawling to the ground. The pain that now radiated through me was ten times worse than it had been before. Maura screamed from a few feet in front of me as I rolled over to see what had happened. Standing over me covered in blood was Joey, his face was red with anger and the hand that grasped the bat Casey had used to knock Hoyt out was bleach white from holding it so tightly. I panicked. _You're going to die, there's no getting out of this one._ Shut up! _How do you plan to run when you can't even stand up? _No! I was screaming at myself internally, trying so hard to figure out what to do before it was too late for me… for Maura. My leg was broken, I knew it was, the only way I could hope of making it out alive was if Maura ran and got help- and she would have to be pretty damn fast to do that.

No one made a move in the long minutes that followed. I stayed frozen in fear and in pain on the ground. Maura stood paralyzed just beyond Joey's reach. Joey stood over me breathing heavily, trying to decide who was more important- me or Maura. I bit my tongue. Joey raised the bat ready to bring it down on my head. Maura shouted something I didn't hear. I twisted my body towards her and shouted in one last attempt to save her;

"Run Maura! Go!"

The words were vaguely reminiscent of Casey's last words to me, and just like I hesitated to leave him behind, Maura hesitated to leave me behind. But it got Joey's attention. His deadly stare left me and went straight to Maura. It was enough to get her feet moving. Maura turned around and ran… I knew she could run a good distance, but I didn't know if she could out run Joey who was now tailing her- closing the gap faster then I hoped he could. _Please God don't let him catch her… please…_ As much as it hurt me to look away I had to, somehow I had to hide and right now I had the chance. I pushed myself to my feet but was immediately crippled back to the ground, my leg was useless. _Damnit Jane get your ass up and get moving!_ I pushed myself up again, this time being careful not to put any pressure on my (most likely) broken leg. As I moved farther away from the trees and farther away from Maura the thought started to creep up on me that Hoyt hadn't made his appearance yet, the images that flooded my mind sent a cold chill down my back.

Had that all be Casey's blood on Joey?

Was Hoyt taking his time with Casey while Joey took care of us?

Was Hoyt just waiting for me to fold?

Had Casey actually killed Hoyt?

Or was Hoyt still unconscious and Joey killed Casey before coming after us?

Any hope that I had that Hoyt was dead we dashed when I tripped and rolled over to see Hoyt slowly making his way towards me. _This is a fucking nightmare…_ Fear drove me back onto my one foot as I attempted limp away, but it was useless. The same fear driving me forward was also causing me to stumble and fall prey to Hoyt. He had me where he needed me there was no doubt about that. I had woken up from nightmares about the day he would finally kill me since the first time I had fallen into his grasp. _You knew this would happen; it shouldn't come as a surprise._ I tried to shake the thought from my head. _You should have killed him when you had the chance._

"You never disappoint me Jane," he said.

"Go to hell," I growled, as I tried to push myself farther away from him.

"How long ago was it when you first felt those scalpels tear through your hands?" he asked holding up the scalpel for me to see. "How long ago was it when you first came face to face with your boogeyman?"

"You know how long it's been," I replied.

"Have I haunted you Jane?" he asked. "Am I the reason you wake up covered in sweat in the middle of the night?"

"You know you are Hoyt," I said, my voice cracking.

He was playing with me. It was the same mind game he had played with Maura before he had escaped the first time. Only he wasn't comparing himself to me like he had compared himself with Maura, he was trying to convince me that he had had me right from the start. And he was right I hadn't been the same since the first time I thought I would die at his hands. I had tried to move on, to get myself back together but he was always there. That's why I had been waiting for his execution because his grasp on me would finally be gone. But he had once again managed to completely destroy any hope I might have held. My back hit against something hard- a tree- I was trapped I couldn't get any farther away from him. I closed my eyes and bit my lip hoping I could go out being caught in a memory of anywhere but here.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

_The hard, unforgiving concrete drug into my back, and the cold metal of the scalpels pierced my flesh, drawing blood. He stood over me the sickening stench of his body burned my nose. His hot breath on my face was enough to make me vomit as I turned my head away trying so hard to get away from him. But I was trapped. He had me where he needed me. No one would come to save me. I had been so focus on catching the Surgeon that I had ignored protocol and had gone out on my own. Korsak had no idea where I was, no idea where Hoyt was holding his next two victims- me and that girl. I had told her to remain calm, that I was here to help her, but I had fallen prey t Hoyt just as she had. This was it, this was the end. The sharp tip of the scalpel pressed against my throat. I let out a small cry in fear._

_ The door flew open; both Hoyt and I looked up in surprise. Hoyt threw himself off of me and ran. My head fell back to the ground, tears spilling down my cheeks, sobs started to break out. Korsak kneeled down next to me, reassuring me I was alright, that everything would be alright. He draped his blazer over me before he rose and was gone chasing after Hoyt…_

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

_ Hundreds of police officers and S.W.A.T. personnel stood behind armored vehicles and the blue and white painted cop cars. One was shouting orders into a mic hanging down from his ear. Another was shouting at the armed gunman who pushed through the front doors of the precinct to the outside, using me as a human shield. I struggled against the muscular arm around my throat, but it was pointless he was too strong for me. Korsak and Frost needed to take him down now. After what he did to Frankie he needed to pay. But if they couldn't get a clear shot around me, they wouldn't take it._

"_Shoot him!" I shouted._

_ I didn't know what was happening on their end, but no shot was taken. The .44 caliber against my side was pressed harder against me. I imagined I knew what they were shouting behind the cars… no clear shot… we can't shoot him unless we shoot her… do not take the shot…_

"_Shoot him!"_

_ I shouted louder- the shot needed to be taken I didn't care if I was injured in the process. But still no shot rang out. No one would take the damn shot. Just as I dropped my hands away from pulling on my captors arm Maura came out through the front doors of the precinct. My mind had already been made up if they wouldn't take the shot I would have too. Maura turned towards me just as I grabbed the .44 in the gunman's hand and pulled it towards my abdomen. With one last though I forced the man's finger back, pulling the trigger. I felt the bullet enter my side and then quickly exit. The man's grip on me fell as we both collapsed to the pavement. Blood pooled around me, some his some my own but I was starting to fade faster. Maura shouted my name but by the time she got over to me and I felt her skilled hands apply pressure on my self-inflicted wound. Everything started to go black…_

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

_ Maura always had the ability to show up at my apartment when I was in the worst mood and cheer me up. Today was one of those days. I had just received information that one of our star witnesses on a murder case had turned up dead which meant our suspect would most likely go free. For the past three hours I had been propped on my couch, running through case files, trying to find anything we may have missed that would make our case a slam dunk once more. Of course the half of a six pack I had downed without even realizing it had made my mind a little fuzzy. Enough so I didn't realize Maura walking right through the front door._

"_It's a mess in here," she said getting my attention._

"_Does that honestly surprise you?" I asked tossing the file on the table and picking up the half empty bottle sitting next to it._

"_Really Jane I don't understand how you can live in this," she said._

"_Of course not you're miss perfect," I said._

"_And you've had a little too much to drink," she shot at me taking the beer from my hand. "What is this your third? Forth?"_

"_Third and only my third," I replied. "I'm off the clock Maura."_

"_You need to go to bed and get some rest," she told me taking my hand. "Come on lets go."_

_ A groan escaped my lips as I let Maura pull me off the couch and lead me back to my bedroom. Even though all she was doing was forcing me to get some rest I couldn't help my hazy brain from wondering off into things it normally wouldn't. By the time she actually got me sitting on the bed I was gripping her arm tightly not letting her take another step away from me._

"_Stay the night," I told her._

"_Why would I do something crazy like that?" she asked smiling._

"_Because you love me," I reminded her. "And because I want you to."_

"_Are you sure it isn't just the alcohol talking?" Maura asked seriously._

"_I'm not drunk Maura," I told her. "I can hold my alcohol."_

"_You're impossible," she sighed._

"_Which is why you love me," I said._

_ I pulled her closer, wrapping my arms around her waist as I kissed her. It was the first time I had actually kissed my best friend. This was actually the first time we had crossed that thin line between friends and more than friends. But I didn't care and by the way she pushed herself into me I could tell she didn't care either. We had both felt the same way but had never had the nerve to say it. I didn't know if it was the alcohol that had driven me to be so forward with things all of a sudden or that I had just come to terms in that instant, whatever it was I was happy…_

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

Those three instances flashed through my mind in less than a second. I had hopped Hoyt would bring the knife across my throat in the instances but he hadn't. Slowly I opened my eyes and blinked, completely unaware of what had happened. Hoyt stood over me, his knife held limply in his hands, blood dripping from his mouth and blood seeping from three different holes. What had happened? I hadn't heard any shots… Time seemed to slow as Hoyt slumped forward, collapsing to the ground dead. Behind him Maura stood holding the gun…


	14. Chapter 14

**Here you go readers, chapter 14. I enjoyed it, I hope you do too. This will be coming to a close soon. Maybe another chapter or two but they'll be good. So until the next chapter thank you for reading and, as always, enjoy.**

Chapter 14: Death

I couldn't believe what happened right in front of me. Hoyt was on the ground bleeding out from three gunshot wounds. Standing no more than three feet away from him stood Maura, holding the gun in shaky hands… Hoyt was dead; Maura was holding the gun. My mouth hung open in disbelief. Somehow, someway Maura had doubled back, gotten her hands on a gun and had shot Hoyt. I could tell she was scared, she had never shot a man before, let alone kill them, but I couldn't get myself back on my feet.

"Maura, babe look at me," I tried to calm her down. "Put the gun down."

She didn't respond to me verbally, but the next second the gun was on the ground next to her. I pushed Hoyt's limp body away from me with my one good foot before trying to rise and move over to her side. She was shaking horribly. _Never once shot someone…_ I didn't know where Joey was, and Maura wasn't talking, she was still shook up. I held my hand out in attempt to get her to take it, immediately I could see I was shaking almost as badly as she was. Maura had shot Hoyt and saved my life; I wasn't dead we had made it.

"Maura come here."

"I know you told me to run, but I couldn't leave you," she said almost sobbing.

"It's alright," I said somehow managing to hug her. "You just saved my life."

"You would have done the same for me," she said.

"Damn right I would have," I gave her a smile. "Where's Joey?"

"I hit him pretty hard a few yards from here," she told me. "I don't know how long we have before he comes too."

"You hit him?" I asked surprised.

"I didn't just magically get the gun," Maura said sarcastically. "I realized I couldn't out run him so I just out-smarted him… with a rather large stick."

"You never cease to amaze me," I told her. "But we need to go."

Maura hadn't taken more than a step away from me when I ended up tripping and falling flat on my face again. I was not having a good day. She was turning around to help me up when she stumbled backwards. I hadn't seen the cause of her stumbling until I saw the blood running down her arm. Looking beyond her I saw Joey standing behind her holding a bloody knife, the look on his face was both distraught and angry. Before I had time to react in anyway Joey jumped on her again, this time driving the knife into Maura abdomen. Maura's hand immediately went to the puncture wound in an attempt to staunch the bleeding, but she fell to the ground unable to stand any longer. Joey laughed.

"Now we're even," he said.

"No," I said under my breath.

I grabbed the gun Maura had dropped on the ground and unloaded two rounds into Joey, one right into his chest the other right between the eyes, before he could even blink.

"Now we're even."

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

Korsak jogged across the parking lot of the gas station headed over to see if Frost and his half of the search team had found anything. Less than an hour ago Frost had found a note Jane had left that had told them what was happening and where she was meeting Hoyt. They couldn't be sure but it appeared that Jane made it here then suddenly disappeared, probably caught off guard by Hoyt or the apprentice. Korsak couldn't blame her for acting on her own; it was no secret that Jane and Maura were more than just friends, so Jane was justified in attempting to save her. But had she really believe Hoyt would let Dr. Isles go that easily?

"Find anything?" Korsak asked sounding out of breath.

"No," Frost replied shaking his head. "The dogs aren't picking up on anything, and her car isn't anywhere to be found."

"This is the right gas station right?" Korsak knew it was but he was worried about his partner.

"Yeah this is it," Frost confirmed. "Maybe they grabbed her and dumped the car somewhere."

"Detectives down this way the dogs found something!" a uniformed officer shouted from down the road.

Korsak and Frost exchanged unsure glances before jogging over to the officer down the road. Almost a mile of road had been blocked off in order for them to search for Jane, but they hadn't thought they would find anything this close. The officer turned just as the two detectives got to him and started to jog down a small path in the densely wooded area that surrounded the road. Korsak and Frost followed him, hoping that the dogs hadn't found a dead body. When they finally reached the barking dogs they let out a small sigh of relief when they saw it wasn't a body but the familiar black car Jane drove off duty.

"Looks like whoever dumped the car here drove right through the brush and somehow managed not to disturb too much of the growth. I wouldn't have known a car drove off the road with how good those plants looked," the officer holding the barking canine told Korsak and Frost.

"What about the detective?" Korsak asked hating he referred to Jane as 'the detective'. "Any sign of her?"

"Sorry detective," the cop said sympathetically. "This is all the dog picked up on. I wish there was more I could give you."

"At least we know we're on the right track," Frost said. "Someone process the car. Korsak lets go find the Lieutenant."

"What exactly do you have in mind?" Korsak asked.

"We do what any search party would do," Frost shrugged. "Walk in a straight line until we find Jane and Dr. Isles and hope we aren't too late."

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

I chucked the com radio into a tree when it failed to tune into any frequency that would get me connected to dispatch. Maura was in bad shape and I was in no shape to attempt to go get him I was running out of options.

"Jane?" Maura's voice was barely above a whisper.

"Don't talk Maura," I warned her. "I'm here okay? I'm right here."

I didn't have the energy to stand so instead I used my arms to pull myself over to Joey in hopes that he would have a phone in his pocket. To my relief his cell was in his front pocket and had full service, which was odd for the middle of nowhere but I wasn't about to complain.

"Jane…" Maura called for me again.

"I'm right here Maura," I said. "I'm going to get help alright? You're going to be okay…"

Even as the words left my mouth I knew I wasn't sure she would make it. She was losing a lot of blood and help was over half an hour away. I shook my head I couldn't waist anymore time thinking about whether or not she would survive. If I didn't get my ass into gear she would die and that I could have prevented. I unlocked the phone and dialed 9-1-1 immediately I was connected with a dispatch officer.

"9-1-1 what is your emergency?" the dispatch officer asked.

"This is Detective Jane Rizzoli, requesting immediate backup and medical assistance…" suddenly I was out of breath. "I'm injured, there's another injured, two possibly three dead."

"Okay Detective," the officer said. "What is your location?"

_My location? Christ I have no idea where I'm at!_

"I don't know, I don't," I said. "Detective Korsak… he knows what happened…"

I really didn't know if Korsak knew what had happened or not. Hopefully he had found the note, if not, well, we would still get help. There was a long pause over the phone as the dispatch officer typed frantically at her keyboard.

"Okay stay on the line with me," she said. "I'm sending a unit to your location now, ETA fifteen minutes."

"Alright… alright…" I said as I switched the phone to speaker and dropped it on the ground.

I moved over to Maura's side, pulled her up onto my arm and placed my hand against the bleeding puncture wound on her side. She groaned in pain but wrapped her uninjured arm around my waist. I could feel her growing weaker as the second ticked by, but she continued to grip at my shirt trying to keep me as close as possible. The sight of crimson red blood seeping through my fingers sent a pang of guilt through me. She saved my life just to end up hanging on by a thread. I felt completely useless. Everything up to this point had been physical pain but now it was emotional, something I had never been good at handling.

"You're my hero… you know that don't you?" Maura spoke in a whisper. "Always risking yourself…"

"Please Maura don't talk…" I fought back tears that threatened to fall. "Help's on the way…"

"I'm losing too much blood Jane…" Maura muttered. "If it isn't stopped in… the next few minutes…"

"No Maura, don't you go there," I said forcefully. " Both of us are getting out of here… I'm not losing you."

"It isn't your fault Jane," Maura said with a half-smile.

"Don't you dare give up on me," I told her.

I felt a blood soaked hand grip my hand that was on the wound. It was enough to get the dam to break. Maura was a doctor, and one logical one at that, but she was telling me she wouldn't make it. She had a good idea how bad her condition was, but she couldn't be claiming defeat yet. I couldn't let her die on me… not like this. She pushed my hand down to add more pressure onto her bleeding wound. I buried my arm into her shoulder as the tears flowed freely; I might lose my best friend.

"I love you…" Maura said.

"I love you too Maura…" I said between sobs. "Even though you are a pain in my ass…"

"You're a handful too, you know," she said.

I held her tightly, still using one hand to staunch the bleeding from her side, and waited. How much longer would it take for help to get here? Would they be too late to save Maura? My mind wondered to Casey. I hadn't seen him since he freed Maura and I; Hoyt hadn't bragged about killing him, but I still didn't know if he was alive or if he had lost his life saving me… A week ago I had made him promise he would protect Maura if anything happened to me. Things hadn't turned out that way. Maura had ended up becoming a victim of Hoyt and Joey and I had ended up getting myself in an extremely dangerous game with them trying to save Maura. Somehow Casey had caught on to what had happened and had found us; he hadn't called for help and he hadn't turned around and driven back to get Korsak and Frost. Instead he had come in unarmed and risked himself for me and for Maura. I owed him everything.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

Cavanaugh's phone rang, caller ID told him it was the station, by some stroke of luck his phone had managed to keep service out in the middle of nowhere. He answered, listened to the officer on the other line, nodded a few times then hung up. Jane and Maura had been located; according to the officer a Detective Rizzoli had called 9-1-1 and had ordered dispatch to send backup and medical assistance to her location, which had been unknown to her but thanks to GPS tracking in phones they knew where she was. Cavanaugh cleared his throat. Normally he wasn't out in the field, but this was different one of his best detective was in danger and he felt responsible for bringing her home alive. He remembered his days in patrol. This was nothing new to him.

"Korsak, Frost we found her," he shouted. "Dispatch got a call from an unknown it was Jane. I don't know the details but according to the dispatch officer there are two injured, two possibly three dead."

"Three?" Frost asked. "Who else was there?"

"We won't know until we get there," Cavanaugh replied. "We're first responders more help is en route."

"I'll get the car," Korsak told Frost before he jogged off.

"Listen up everyone!" Cavanaugh shouted at the 20+ officers that composed the search party. "Detective Rizzoli has been located I want all of you except for two with us. Let's get a move on!"

Most of the officer's knew Cavanaugh was fond of Jane; she had been a hard working detective and wouldn't take no for an answer. She reminded Cavanaugh of himself when he was fresh out of the academy. Cavanaugh had a soft spot for the Detective's working under him, they were his responsibility, they trusted him with their life and he trusted them with his. One thing he would never admit was that he looked out for Jane more than he usually would for a subordinate officer, but he didn't see her (or any of his detectives for that matter) as lower rank, they were equals. For a short time he had dated Jane's mother, Angela, it wasn't that Jane was aware of the relationship until it ended but Cavanaugh knew how she was and knew Jane's dynamic. He wasn't about to let a good officer like Jane Rizzoli die on his watch.

Cavanaugh started his car and flipped on the sirens and the lights. He was glad they had brought an EMT with them, but he wished more than one had been with them.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

Almost all of the color had left Maura's face leaving her looking pale and sickly. Her breathing had become more labored as the minutes passed by and her pulse had started to grow weak. I could feel her starting to fade in my arms; she was fighting to keep her eyes open and doing her best to stay with me, but when you were losing as much blood as she had it was hard to keep fighting. Her fingers still lightly traced circles on my back as we waited for the sounds of sirens and the sight of flashing red and blue lights. She needed medical assistance now; there was no way she would last another ten minutes without it. A tremor went through Maura's body, instantly she reacted in pain. I pulled her closer and nuzzled my head to her shoulder.

"Stay with me Maura…" I whispered. "Just a little longer, and help will be here."

"H-how many t-times is this now?" she asked weakly. "T-that you've saved m-my life."

"Four or five," I said smiling into her neck. "But who's counting?"

"P-promise me you won't l-leave me," she requested.

"Never… I won't leave you," I promised. "I swear on my life I won't leave you."

I thought she was a goner after another minute passed by, but then I heard the sirens. Maura had a chance now as long as there was an EMT with them and as long as they could stabilize her in the ambulance. I wanted to sit up so I could wave them over to us when they finally came into view but I couldn't bring myself to pull myself away from her. It dawned on me this may be the last time I held her like this.

The sirens grew louder and louder, closer and closer. Finally the red and blue lights came into view. The cars were speeding pass the trees, the first came into full view in a matter of seconds. Dirt kicked up as the driver slammed on the brakes, dropping the car from at least sixty to zero. Car after car followed, along with the large square EMT van, filling the air with dust and debris. Doors slammed shut, feet pounded on the hard ground, searching frantically for me, for Maura, but they hadn't seen us, not the way we were sprawled on the ground. Then I heard a familiar voice, a voice that I was more than happy to hear, a voice I wished I could have heard before the dispatch officer.

"Jane!" Korsak shouted. "Janie!"

"Korsak I'm over here… We're over here!" I managed to shout.

There was gravel under three sets of heavy feet. Korsak, Frost and Cavanaugh came through the thick dust cloud they had created. I couldn't see them very well but they look visibly relieved that I was alive and that no more than a few feet away from me Joey lay dead. Korsak dropped down next to me, Frost at his side, while Cavanaugh dropped onto one knee neck to Maura, pushing my hand away from her wound and applying pressure himself.

"We need a medic right now!" Cavanaugh shouted the order. "We've got one alive but barely breathing!"

"Get her out of her Cavanaugh…" I practically begged him. "I don't know how much longer she can hold on…"

"We've got her Jane," Cavanaugh assured me. "You have my word."

Two medics ran over to us with a stretcher, they pushed Cavanaugh back so they could to their job. I didn't want to let go of Maura hand, but Korsak and Frost moved me away from her at the same time as the medics lifted Maura on the stretcher. Her eyes were no longer open but her chest rose and fell as she took each shallow breath. They may have been too late to save her.

"Christ Jane what did they do to you?" Frost asked, holding up one of my hands.

"It's nothing, just some minor burns…" I lied; I couldn't bring myself to tell him the truth. "OW! Damnit Korsak!"

"Sorry Janie," Korsak apologized pulling his hands away from my leg. "What happened?"

"Joey hit me with a bat," I replied. "I think it broke my leg."

"Rizzoli the dispatch officer said you reported there were five people here," Cavanaugh said. "Who else was here besides you, Dr. Isles, Hoyt, and the apprentice?"

"Casey…" I told him. "He followed me here; it was him who got Maura and I out… I don't know if he's alive…"

"Where's he at?" Korsak asked.

"In the basement, at least he was when he told Maura and me to run," I replied. "He took on Hoyt and Joey by himself Cavanaugh…"

"Korsak you stay here with Jane and wait for the other ambulances to get here. Frost you're with me," Cavanaugh ordered.

When Cavanaugh and Frost had disappeared into the building and I had looked over to see the ambulance speeding away, sirens blaring, and lights on, rushing Maura to the hospital I the pain that I hadn't felt because of adrenaline finally hit me. It was a sudden rush of complete agony pulsing from my burned and broken leg, as well as the burns on my hands. I had no idea why it had taken so long to hit me, not even when it was happening did it hurt this bad, but I bit my tongue not wanting to let Korsak see me in such a broken state again.

"This was the dumbest thing you've ever done," Korsak said after a minute, eliciting laughter from me.

"I've done worse," I laughed through the sharp pain that ran through my body. "Remember that creep who was stalking Maura? Now getting stuck alone with him was pretty fucking stupid."

"I'll give you that," Korsak agreed.

We fell silent, not having any else to say, and desperately needing the ambulance to show up. My mind drifted towards Casey, his body cold and unmoving in a puddle of his own blood. I didn't know yet what his condition was but I assumed the worst, especially since Frost and Cavanaugh hasn't returned yet. Both the woman I loved and the man who had stood behind me through everything were either dying or dead and it was all because I had acted without thinking. I didn't have much time to drown myself in self-pity because two more sets of lights and sirens turned into the long dirt driveway to the building.

Medics ran over to Korsak and me, a stretcher trailing behind them. They dropped their medical bags, pushed Korsak away and started checking me over. I didn't fight them when they pressed on the burns left by the jumper cables. When the second medic turned my leg I was blinded by the searing pain.

"Stop!" I shouted. "Please that hurts…"

"You're leg is broken," the medic said. "I'm going to put an air cast on it to stabilize it while we transport you to the hospital. It may hurt."

"I could have told you it was broken," I said. "Ow! Damnit you jackass warn me when you do that!"

The medic smiled to himself as he secured the air cast around my leg. I'm glad he was enjoying himself.

"These look like electric burns," the second medic said. "Detective do you feel light headed? Short of breath?"

"No more than usual," I replied.

"You could be in worse shape than you appear to be," the second medic said. "We need to get you to the hospital now, there could underlying damage."

"Let's get her loaded up," the first medic said.

The stuck an oxygen mask over my nose and mouth and together lifted me onto the stretcher before strapping me down.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

Frost and Cavanaugh stood at the edge of the large pool of blood from the body on the floor. The body's hand was outstretched, reaching for something but had ultimately come to rest in the blood. Frost shook his head; he hadn't known Casey that well but he knew him well enough to feel angry at his death. He also knew that Casey's death would be too much for Jane to take right now. With Maura dying, or even if he didn't want to believe it, dead telling Jane Casey was gone now would probably kill her. Frost shook his head and turned away, this was too much.

"Confirm the third death," Cavanaugh said gruffly. "Do you have a positive ID Frost?"

"Lieutenant Colonel Casey Jones, Army," Frost replied his voice low. "It's him, Jane's friend…"

"Get a coroner in here, have the three bodies taken back to the morgue…" Cavanaugh told Frost.

"Cavanaugh, shouldn't we wait until Jane's en route to the hospital?" Frost asked.

"Jane was the one who reported he was probably dead…" Cavanaugh took a step back from Casey's body. "She's going to find out one way or another. Its better you tell her now."

Frost knew Cavanaugh was right, but he really didn't want to tell Jane now. He didn't know what it would do to her, and he didn't want to risk hurting her more when he didn't even know what had happened to her already. But there was no arguing with Cavanaugh now; he had come out here to help one of his detectives, and even though it would hurt Jane Cavanaugh must have thought she could handle it. Frost turned towards the stairs, giving one last look to the dead man on the floor, the body of a once lively man, the body of someone Jane loved. He found himself biting his tongue. Hoyt was dead but he deserved ten times more than what had come to him.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

I saw Frost exiting the building by himself; I tried sitting up and shouting to him but the straps held me down. But he came running right over to me, out of breath, and I could see it in his eyes that Casey wasn't going to be telling me I owed him.

"Frost where's Casey?" I still asked. "What happened to him?"

"Casey is… he's…" Frost was having trouble finding the words. "He's dead Jane… he didn't make it. I'm sorry…"

I dropped my head back to the stretcher and let out a long breath of air.

"I made him promise to protect Maura…" I muttered. "He's dead because of me…"


	15. Chapter 15

**Let me start off by saying I'm so sorry for the delay I've been busy and honestly was having a real hard time writing this chapter. I owe a big thanks to TwistedHearts2014 who helped me with a good part of this chapter, shooting ideas around. I wouldn't be posting this chapter now if it weren't for that help. And also to all you who have stuck with me. I hope this chapter makes up for the absence. And hopefully within the next week I'll have possibly the last chapter up. So like always thank you for reading and enjoy.**

Chapter 15: Aftermath

Bright lights flashed above Maura as she was rushed down the hall into the OR. People were shouting orders and attaching things to her arms. She was weak things were all a blur. Where was Jane? _Jane…_ Her body wasn't responding at all, she couldn't move, couldn't speak; she needed to know Jane was alright. Doors flew open; the gurney she was strapped onto came to a stop, people frantically moving around her. Two of them lifted her off the gurney and moved her onto another table, an operating table. A mask was placed over her mouth and nose and she felt herself grow tired- anesthesia, her brain was still working enough for her to realize that. Her eyes grew heavy. She started to feel herself slip into unconsciousness.

"Jane…" her voice was weak.

The machine monitoring her heart rate started to beep loudly and the line went flat.

"She's flat-lining!" a doctor shouted. "Get a crash cart in here now!"

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

Being where I was right now was not what I had in mind. The doctors had wrapped my hands up in gauze and had gotten my leg into a cast after a multitude of painful x-rays. Yet I was lying in one of the hospital beds, shot up with morphine and ordered not to leave. I had broken my arm once in high school playing basketball with my brother, Casey and a few other guys, but that had been a long time ago and I was beginning to remember why I hated casts so much. The morphine was the only good thing that came out of being restrained to a hospital bed waiting for them to take scans of my brain and check my heart (which they thought had an irregular beat caused by being electrocuted).

My mind wasn't on my injuries fully; all I could truly think about was Maura and whether or not she would make it out of surgery. No one would tell me anything which is why they had resorted to restraining me- I had to be there for Maura when she came out of surgery I just had too. She had been in surgery for almost an hour, at least that's what Korsak had told me before leaving, and it left the question how much longer would she be there? Everything from the events of the night where fresh in my head, a nightmare I had to live while I was awake. I could still feel Maura in my arms, her growing weaker and weaker as the time continued to tick away. It was sitting here, completely useless, that I realized I didn't know if I could ever look at her the same. She was in critical condition because I hadn't been careful enough to protect her. I had been too absorbed in catching Hoyt I had left her completely vulnerable to Hoyt. There was no way of knowing what Joey or Hoyt had done to her before I had risked everything at the chance to save her from Hoyt.

Then there was Casey… he had died trying to save Maura and me. I couldn't help but blame myself for that either. It was the promise I had forced him to make that landed him in that situation. I had known Casey since high school and even though we hadn't been close then we had grown close when I ran into him when I had been given a medal for my 'heroic' actions when there had been a siege on the precinct. Maura had told me having sex might stop the pain that plagued me from the gunshot wound. If I had known then she had the same feelings for me as I had had for her I may have never slept with Casey and we would have never stayed in touch. I was the first person he visited when he came home from tour overseas. And even though it hurt him to see me with someone else (the person I had broken up with him to be with) he still came. But now he was dead and I would never see his smiling face at my door at six in the morning. My mother would never again tease me about having kids with him. Casey was gone and I was at partial blame.

A knock on the door frame pulled me from my thoughts and back to reality. I was surprised to see Cavanaugh standing there in his usually work suit. By the look of him I could tell the night was getting to him, the collar of his shirt was unbuttoned more than usual and he looked tired, like he had been awake for days with no sleep, running fully on coffee. He came over to my bedside and took a seat in a plastic chair.

"You look like hell Rizzoli," same old Cavanaugh.

"I feel like hell," I told him. "But you're one to talk. What Ma give you decaf?"

"Dealing with the department," Cavanaugh told me. "You pulled a pretty stupid stunt."

"I didn't have much of a choice," I said. "You took my badge."

"You went in alone, without backup, unarmed into a hot zone," Cavanaugh reminded me. "You could have gotten yourself killed."

"It was a risk I was willing to take for Maura," I said my voice getting low. "I just wish Casey hadn't done what he did."

"You may have been dead if he hadn't," Cavanaugh said. "I'm sorry that he died Jane. I know you two were close."

Cavanaugh never called me Jane; to him I had always been Rizzoli.

"I asked him to protect Maura if anything were to happen to me," I admitted. "I should have known he would come after me."

"Calculated risk Jane," Cavanaugh sighed. "You took him down, both of them. Because of you the worst killer we've had since the Boston Strangler is dead and his apprentice with him. Lieutenant Colonel Casey Jones died but his death meant something."

"Any news on Maura?" I asked wanting to get off the topic. "No one will tell me anything."

"She's still in surgery," Cavanaugh replied shortly. "They expect her to make it."

"Will you come get me when she's out of surgery?" I asked. "And get a doctor in here so I can be discharged?"

"Frost will come by when she's out of surgery but you aren't leaving until the doctors say you can go," Cavanaugh replied. "I've been informed that they want to keep you under observation for at least 24 hours."

I fell back into the pillow heaving a sigh. They weren't going to let me leave after sustaining a concussion and receiving multiple courses of electrocution I couldn't say it came as a surprise. But Maura was still in surgery after nearly two hours and it was still unsure (at least to me) when she would get out of surgery. All I could do was lay here for 24 hours before I could be discharged just so I would be able to sit with Maura who would most likely be placed in the ICU. I shouldn't have been so upset about being in the hospital but with Maura hurt because of me I couldn't help but want to be anywhere but here. All I really wanted was to be with her.

After I lost myself in thinking about Maura, Cavanaugh took his leave. I really wanted someone to stay, without Maura sitting with me like she usually ended up doing, I was completely alone and I didn't like it. But there was nothing I could do unless I wanted to check-out AMA but I wouldn't have anyone who would watch over me that was always what Maura would do.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

Maura wasn't awake but she wasn't asleep either. She was somewhere in between the two; she knew there was something going on around her but she didn't understand what it was. The only thing she could remember was Jane crying at her to stay with her, and the pain- she remembered the pain. But right now she felt nothing but pressure; pressure on her shoulder and her side. Maura wanted to come through the haze but she couldn't, something was keeping her suspended there. Even through the haze she wanted Jane's warm body against hers, wanted Jane's lips on hers silently promising things would be alright. Maura allowed herself to be pulled fully under through the haze straight into unconsciousness.

_::Dream::_

_ It was the third date they had gone on since they had decided to give a relationship a chance. Jane was in one of her nicer blazers accompanied with a blue button up, black slacks, and her work shoes (which were beaten up but well-polished). Maura was in a green dress that came down to just below her knees and hugged her body closely showing off her curves. She knew Jane's attention would be completely on her, but she was also catching the attention of several men dining with their own dates. Jane held Maura's hand tightly, protectively as they were lead to a table in a back corner away from the other patrons. Maura loved that Jane wasn't afraid to let other people see them so together. From the very beginning the biggest issue that arose in her mind was whether or not Jane would be open about things in public. But Jane had proven to be the perfect significant other._

"_There are about a dozen men here that will be either spending the night on the couch or alone with a nice red mark on their face thanks to you and that dress of yours," Jane said with a smile._

"_Flash your badge maybe they will stop staring," Maura suggested with a chuckle. "That usually keeps men from buying you drinks at the Robber."_

"_It usually clears out the Robber," Jane said as she sat down with Maura. _

"_That's true," Maura nodded. "Thank you for not taking me to the Robber for a date."_

"_We'll I would have but I don't need to drink that much," Jane said._

_ Three courses later and an entire bottle of wine both of them found their brains muddled with alcohol. Jane had enough since for them to go for a brisk walk through the park before either of them attempted to drive back to Maura's place. The two ended up with Maura pinned up against a tree, Jane holding her tightly, their lips pressed together in a passionate alcohol fueled kiss. Maura groaned as Jane's hands ran down the length of her body tracing every curve, taking in every inch of her. Jane felt Maura push her away, but her face hovered close to her best friends as she waited for an explanation._

"_My head is spinning right now Jane," she whispered into Jane's ear. "You could take me home so I can lie down…"_

_ Jane's hands fell away from Maura's waist, disappointment weighing heavy on her. She knew her judgment wasn't as clear as it could have been but Jane knew she wanted Maura, more so she needed Maura. But if Maura wanted to sleep off the multiple glasses of wine Jane wouldn't argue._

"_If that's what you want," Jane said with a sigh._

"_But I want you to stay with me," Maura continued. "And that isn't debatable."_

_ Jane smiled and pulled Maura close to her as the two made their way to the street, both knowing there was no way either would drive tonight. By the time they hailed a cab and arrived back at Maura's house Jane couldn't hold out any longer. The second Maura unlocked the door Jane had her pinned, her lips moving up Maura's neck, kissing her gently before moving to Maura's chin, then lips. Maura fumbled with the door but finally managed to get it open, pulling Jane through the threshold with her. Her hands traveled up Jane's back coming to rest on her shoulder blades pulling her closer. Jane lead Maura back to her bedroom there's lips never once breaking from one another. Seconds later Maura's dress was tossed haphazardly onto the floor along with Jane's blazer and button up before the two fell back onto the bed, completely absorbed in one another…_

_::End Dream::_

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

Korsak and Frost sat one seat apart from each other in complete silence. Neither of them had gone up to see Jane since she had first been admitted. Korsak knew if he went up to see Jane and make sure every was alright the only thing he would get from Jane is she wanted to be there for Maura when she got out from surgery, but Korsak didn't want to be the reason Jane checked out AMA, so he didn't go. He knew Jane wouldn't rip his head off for staying in the waiting room with Frost.

"How much longer do you think Dr. Isles will be in surgery?" Korsak asked rubbing his sore neck.

"I don't know," Frost replied. "She was in pretty bad shape when we got to her. It's a miracle she's still alive…"

"It was lucky Jane got the call through to dispatch when she did," Korsak agreed. "She looked like hell. I hope she's alright…"

"Probably unconscious with all the drugs they're pumping into her system," Frost said. "How long have they had her in surgery?"

"Two hours going on three," Korsak dropped his head into his hands. "Christ I can't believe Dr. Isles is in critical condition."

"What do you think happened there?" Frost asked. "What happened to the two of them?"

"We won't know until they tell us," Korsak replied. "But if I know Jane she doesn't like talking about Hoyt and whatever happened to Dr. Isles… I don't know she probably won't say a damn thing."

"Who's going to take a statement?" Frost asked.

Frost being the newest member of the team didn't know what had happened to Jane the first time around with Hoyt. What little he did know was from Hoyt's first escape when he faked appendicitis and went after Jane with his apprentice. That was when Jane shot Hoyt in the hand giving him scars to match hers after she had used a flare to burn his face. All Frost knew was that Jane was terrified of Hoyt and that he haunted her every day of her life. He didn't want to be the one to take her statement because he knew what happened to Korsak when he saw Jane that broken. That was how Frost had become Jane's partner.

"Most likely someone from Internal Affairs," Korsak finally spoke up. "Jane won't talk to any of us that much I know."

"You think she'll talk to IA?" Frost asked.

"Hell no," Korsak said. "But unless she wants to ask for another new partner you better hope they take her statement and not you."

"Yeah I don't want to be partners with you," Frost laughed for the first time since Maura had gone missing. "I hope Dr. Isles makes it out alright and comes back to the morgue… she was helping me with my dead body fear."

"She managed to get that kink out of my back a few weeks ago…" Korsak said. "Things just wouldn't be right without her…"

The two fell silent as they tried not to think about the possible outcome that Dr. Isles may die, even though it looked as though she would make it out of surgery. It was a hard pill to swallow when Dr. Isles had been taken by Hoyt for Jane, they both knew that, and even harder when the idea of Dr. Isles becoming another victim looked very likely. Both Korsak and Frost were about to resign when Jane had taken her leave at the precinct when Cavanaugh had told them Jane would be back, they just had to get to Dr. Isles before Hoyt killed her. But even then they were too late to keep their friend from getting hurt; Jane had gone off on her own and someone paid the biggest price. Now not only were Korsak and Frost dealing with a triple homicide, and two close friends in the hospital, they were dealing with the fact that Jane may never recover from the emotional toll Casey's death would leave on her.

"Excuse me detectives…"

Korsak and Frost bother looked up at the new arrival greeting him with solemn looks.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

The drugs had definitely taken their full effect on me by the time Cavanaugh had been gone for fifteen minutes. I had fallen asleep twice but had been jolted awake only seconds later by a nightmare. The first nightmare was of Maura, coding on the operating table because of the wounds inflicted by Joey; the second one my imagination took some liberties in creating the scene in which Casey lost his life. That one sent my heart rate through the roof at almost 140 bpm before it finally slowed down. Now I was fighting the morphine to stay awake knowing to fall asleep would mean even more unpleasant images. But it was an uphill battle and I was already losing- within seconds I slipped back under my last thought being that whatever came my way wouldn't be unpleasant.

_::Dream::_

_ Casey had somehow scored tickets for one biggest major league baseball games of the regular season with the Red Sox against the Yankees at a home game. He had offered them to Maura and I so we could go, but Maura being Maura and not understanding sports had passed up the offer and told me to go with Casey. Which is what I ended up doing, it was the first time the two of us had been alone with each other since we broke up, but we were doing everything we could no to make it awkward. We both loved baseball and the Sox so we wanted to make the best of two friends spending time together._

_ Inside the stadium at our seats (which I had no idea how he managed to score those good of seats either) we forgot about that awkward vibe from each other and get into the game like any true fan would. At the bottom of the seventh Sox trailing by three runs Casey got up to get some food and beer for the both of us, and some guy and his wife leaned forward to talk to me._

"_You two are a lovely couple," the woman had said leaving me completely confused._

"_Lucky guy," the man had said. "You're that detective right? The one who took down that mob guy a few months ago right?"_

"_Yeah Jane Rizzoli," I said with an eyebrow raised. "He and I aren't together."_

"_Oh," the woman seemed surprised. "I'm sorry."_

"_It's fine," I waved it off. "Casey and I are just close friends."_

_ At that point Casey came back with two hotdogs in one hand and two beers in the other; he handed me one of the beers and hotdogs before taking his seat next to me._

"_Sorry about that, guess all the Yankees fans decided to drink in celebration already," Casey laughed. "See you made some friends without me Jane."_

"_Yeah…" I took a large bite out of the hotdog._

"_I'm Gunnery Sergeant Greyson Willows and this is my wife Jess," The man named Greyson said offering Casey his hand. "Everyone calls me Grey."_

"_Good to meet you," Casey said taking his hand. "I'm Lieutenant Colonel Casey Jones and you've already met my friend Detective Rizzoli."_

"_Lieutenant Colonel huh?" Grey asked. "Army?"_

"_Yeah special forces," Casey nodded. "What about you Marine?"_

"_I drive the tank," Grey said with a smiled. "I'm home on leave for a while thought I would catch a game with my girl before being sent back."_

"_I hear you," Casey offered a knowing smile._

_ The two of them talked through the eighth inning before Casey finally turned around to watch the end of the game, the Sox only needing one to tie and two to win. The day was turning out to be going rather well, both of us having fun with each other for once. It wasn't until the bottom of the ninth when the Sox managed three runs winning them the game that Casey grabbed my wrist and pulled me back down beside him, without any explanation at all._

"_Casey!" I cried as I fell back into the unforgiving stadium seats. "What are you doing?"_

"_Just sit for a moment with me Jane," he said. "Traffic is going to be hell getting out of here, might as well wait for a while."_

"_Well yeah I guess," I said._

"_Besides I wanted to let you know I'm being sent back at the end of the month," he told me._

"_You're leave is already up?" I asked remembering he'd only been home for a couple months._

"_They need me over there," he nodded. "I'll be gone for a minimum of six months but no guarantees over there."_

"_Just be sure to come home," I said, wrapping my arms around his shoulders and hugging him. "Both you and Maura give me enough hell I might as well give you some too."_

"_If anything I'll come back just to have Maura's chicken parmesan again," Casey chuckled into my ear. "Unlike you she can cook."_

_::End Dream::_

"Casey…"

Being jolted out of my sleep into reality sent a sharp pain coursing through my body; it wasn't the dream that had me sweating, it was the fact I could feel his arms around me. The dream had seemed completely real I could still feel him. For the fraction of a second I completely forgot everything that had happened. I thought I would look over next to the bed and see him sitting there with a smug look on his face making some comment about being reckless and in more danger of getting myself killed then he was in a hot zone. But when I glanced over to the plastic chair that Cavanaugh had been sitting in no more than 30 minutes ago it was empty, no Casey. Tears managed to spill at the realization that the man I went to high school with and dated for a short period of time- who had still remained my close friend after I broke it off with him- was dead.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

Korsak and Frost both listened carefully to the surgeon who stood in front of them. He explained the damage done to Maura's shoulder and whatever internal damage caused by the wound in her side. They had been extremely lucky to have gotten to Jane and Maura when they had; the surgeon said a minute later they would have to add another body to the triple homicide. Dr. Isles had made it out of surgery and was in the ICU to recover. She wouldn't be allowed to leave for a minimum of three weeks, but that was a small price to pay for surviving. And both Korsak and Frost knew Jane would be by Maura's bedside every single day she could be there… The next thing to deal with was getting Jane reinstated and attending Casey's funeral when his family finally got together in Boston. It was a bittersweet victory for everyone involved.


	16. Chapter 16

**First I would like to apologize for taking so long on this chapter. Things have been rough recently a very close friend of mine has been my main concern but she, along with faithful readers have wanted me to get this chapter up and finish the story. So that's what I did. I hope I didn't disappoint. It's been a fun ride. So thank you for reading, don't be afraid to tell me what you think and as always enjoy. **

Chapter 16: Ends are Bittersweet

_Two days later…_

I sat next to Maura's bedside like I had the day before, with my crutches resting against the wall next to her head. The doctors had said it was possible she was in a coma because of the trauma but would surely wake up soon; she just needed to recover a little bit more. It was so hard to see her like this the constant rise and fall of her chest under the bandages that hid the stitching on her arm. I couldn't blame myself for what had happened to her- she would never let me blame myself; it was a simple matter of being at the wrong place at the wrong time. Had she have stayed at the precinct with me both of us would have been there when Hoyt broke in, the only difference was that they most likely would have killed Maura there.

I reached out with a bandaged hand and took Maura's hand running a tentative thumb over her smooth skin. Using my other hand I brushed a stray hair from her face my hand then running down her cheek to her chin. I bit my lip as my hand fell away as my hand came to rest on her chest I leaned forward and kissed her cheek gently. She didn't budge at all, not that I had expected her to but I had hoped she would respond. Sighing to myself I reached over for my crutches getting ready to head to the cafeteria to get some coffee. I was halfway to the door when I thought I heard something but it wasn't like I could turn around on a dime right now without falling flat on my face so I just kept moving to the door.

"Jane…?"

That time I heard it clearly, there was no mistaking Maura's voice. I turned around slowly so I didn't trip over the crutch; I nearly dropped the crutches when I saw Maura's eyes open and staring at me.

"Maura?" my voice cracked with a sudden flood of emotion. "You're awake."

The cast around my leg made my movements clumsy and jerky as I made my way back over to her bedside. I dropped down in the plastic chair next to the bed and took her hand in mine squeezing it as tightly as I could with the burns that covered my palms.

"How long was I out?" Maura asked squeezing my hand back.

"Two days," I replied. "You were in surgery for hours no one would tell me anything until you were stable. I was afraid I had lost you."

"Are you alright?" she asked almost in a panic. "How badly were you hurt?"

"Nothing that hasn't happened to me before," I told her. "It's just a couple burns and a broken leg nothing major."

"No brain damage?" she pushed.

"No more than usual," I tried joking but realized it wasn't the right time or place. "Nothing life threatening just maybe blackouts from time to time but they said it's only temporary."

"What about Casey," Maura's question struck a nerve. "Is he alright?"

I was at loss of words what should have been said to her caught in my throat and just couldn't come out. Maura seemed to understand my silences because she reached up with her good arm and placed her hand on my cheek. I closed my eyes and leaned into her hand trying the best I could not to cry, the past two days I had barely managed to keep myself together and I wasn't about to lose it in front of Maura not now. So I inhaled deeply sat up straight, placed my hand over her hand that still rested on my cheek and sadly told her what had happened.

"Casey didn't make it out of the basement," I told her. "Hoyt um slit his throat before Joey stabbed him multiple times in the torso…"

"Oh Jane I'm so sorry," Maura's voice was full of sympathy.

"He was there because of me… it should be me not him," suddenly I found myself wanting to trade places and I could see how much saying that hurt Maura.

"Jane Clementine Rizzoli don't you ever say that to me again," Maura was serious. "Casey knew the risk he was taking when he came to save us. He loved you Jane and he wouldn't want you blaming yourself for this. Hoyt was sick bastard if Casey hadn't showed up we would both be dead and Hoyt would continue hurting people."

I nodded pulling Maura's hand from my cheek and kissed it before glancing at the clock. Visiting hours were over, a nurse would come in and pull me out and make me leave Maura until 9 tomorrow morning. I stood, kissed her on the lips then reached for my crutches.

"I'm so sorry I have to leave…" I told her. "Visiting hours and all and my non-existent badge doesn't help here."

"You lost your badge on suspension?" Maura asked.

"Uh no I quit…" I said scratching the back of my neck. "But Cavanaugh is going to help me get reinstated…"

"You aren't leaving until you explain why the hell you quit," Maura warned me.

"I'm sorry I can't, no time today…" I said smiling. "Tomorrow maybe…"

I couldn't help the smile that broke out on my face as I made my way out the hall and heard Maura shouting at me to get back there in frustration.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

_Three weeks later…_

Casey's funeral wasn't for another week because of how scattered his family was during the time of his death, so for now his body was still in the morgue under special request; the ME standing in for Maura wasn't too happy about it. It was three weeks since the wheels had been set in motion for me to get my job back in the homicide department and here I was still on crutches because my fractured leg didn't heal as fast as it should have in the middle of the precincts lobby attempting to get upstairs. Today I would finally get my job back but would be on desk duty until my leg was 100%. I just wanted to get ahold of my badge and issued gun again I was tired of being referred to as Ms. Rizzoli I was Detective Rizzoli and if I got anything else at all someone would end up in cuffs.

It took me a minute to get through the metal detector since I couldn't necessarily walk without the crutches which set it off every time. Finally the guard who knew me fairly well waved me through and apologized for the delay before tagging me with a visitor's badge. If I hadn't been so anxious about getting upstairs I would have argued, but I didn't and instead thanked him and slowly headed over to the elevator. Immediately I realized how bad my balance was with the huge cast on my leg and the crutches under my arm because when I reached forward to press the up button I nearly fell backwards. I somehow caught myself and attempted to press the button again, this time my crutch falling to the floor knocking me off balance again, but I still managed to stay up.

"Need some help Detective?"

I knew that voice. When the person had spoken she had reached down and picked up my fallen crutch, the second she stood fully erect a smile crept up on my face but was immediately replaced with confusion.

"Maura?" I asked surprised. "What are you doing here? You're supposed to be at home. How'd you even get here?"

"Frankie gave me a ride," she responded. "He told me you were getting reinstated today and I wanted to be here."

"I'm just getting my badge back Maura," I reminded her. "And where the hell is Frankie? He's about to get his ass kicked I told him to take you home."

"Jane I can take care of myself," she said. "Besides you looked like you needed some help with the elevator."

As the doors to the elevator slide open I rolled my eyes stepping forward into the small room of the elevator. Maura followed right behind me pressing the button that would take us up to homicides floor. My mind was no longer on being reinstated it was on chewing Frankie out for bringing Maura here when she should have been at home resting. She had only been discharged a few hours ago and even though both stab wounds were stitched up they were still only a few weeks old and taking some time to heal. Maura may have said she felt alright because of the pain killers they had her on but the rigid way she stood told me she was in pain, maybe not a lot but she was still in pain.

"I'm taking you back to the house as soon as I'm done here," I told her as we waited for the elevator to stop.

"You aren't allowed to drive with your leg," she reminded me. "Frankie will take both of us back home."

I groaned but couldn't do much else because of the cast. Just as the elevator jerked to a stop I pulled Maura's chin up and kissed her, pulling away just as the doors slid open and let us off on homicides floor. Korsak and Frost both looked up as they heard me moving down the hall towards Cavanaugh's office but they didn't get up to greet me knowing I just wanted to get my job back. Maura broke off from walking with me just as we reached Cavanaugh's office and went into basically homicides office area to take a seat at my desk and talk to Korsak and Frost who had waited for her while she was in surgery while I was stuck in a hospital bed. I wish she hadn't have left yet I needed her to open the office door but she had left that up to me to handle.

Cavanaugh must have heard me adjusting the crutches because before I could open the door it swung open revealing Cavanaugh standing behind it and off to his right in one of the seats near his desk was Captain Wolfe. As soon as I was through the threshold Cavanaugh shut the door behind me the motioned for me to take a seat as he moved to behind his desk. I sat down in one of the metal chairs, propped my crutches against his desk and shot a glair at Captain Wolfe.

"How's the leg Rizzoli?" Cavanaugh asked as he pulled a stack of papers from a drawer.

"Healing," I replied. "What are you doing here Wolfe?"

I saw Cavanaugh smirk out of the corner of my eye as Wolfe shifted in his seat and cleared his throat.

"I'm not here because I want to be Rizzoli," Wolfe nearly growled.

"The Chief of Police requested he be here," Cavanaugh told me.

"After the recent turnout of your case Rizzoli all investigation into your actions has been suspended," Wolfe said through clenched teeth. "I would like to apologize on behalf of all the members in Internal Affairs for any inconveniences."

"How long did it take you to write that?" I asked holding back a laugh.

"Enough Rizzoli," Cavanaugh warned me. "I have too much paperwork to fill out for you to be fighting with Captain Wolfe. You want your job back and the department wants you back."

"Yes sir," I sighed looking back over at Cavanaugh. "Let's get this over with I've got a doctor sitting at my desk who needs to get home."

Cavanaugh smiled as he set my old badge at the edge of his desk. I picked it up and ran my finger over the familiar engraving of the BPD police badge. It was hard to believe that a little more than a month had passed since I had had possession of this badge. I wondered for a brief second if I really wanted to come back or if I should retire. It was ridiculous for me to retire at 37 when Korsak was still going strong after a long number of years in the force as well as a brief time in the Marines during the Vietnam War. Cavanaugh launched into the basic procedure for reinstating an officer. I just nodded as he spoke.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

I flipped the badge over in my hand for the third time. I couldn't get the idea out of my head that I wasn't making a good decision that returning to active duty would be suicide. But what else would I do? Take permanent desk duty? Or go back to working in the evidence locker? Neither of those sounded too great to me, and besides working the field was what I did best who needed to be stuck at a desk pushing papers all day. I had gone through things like the recent events before the difference with this time was Maura had gone through it too, on the same end that I had and that had never happened before. At least not with a psychopathic killer that was after me and not her (not that Patty Doyle- Maura's father- was a psychopath just a mob hitman).

I glanced over at the golden brown haired woman asleep next to me on the couch. She looked peaceful, completely relaxed and not in any pain at least for now. I reached over to push a strand of hair out of her face when she started to stir. Piercing hazel eyes looked up at me as she smiled, pulling herself closer to me resting her head on my shoulder. She noticed the badge in my hands immediately and reached out running her own the gently over the warn metal. Both of us remained silent but I heaved a heavy sigh as I watched her trace outlines on the badge; when she finally did speak she nuzzled closer to me.

"Is something bothering you Jane?" she asked her breath hot against my neck.

"There's just a lot I've got to think about in the next few weeks," I replied inhaling the scent left from her lavender shampoo.

"You mean about your job," she automatically inferred.

"Yeah about my job…" I sighed, no point in lying to her. "I'm just worried returning to homicide would be a bad idea."

"Jane you love what you do and have never been afraid to do it," Maura said squeezing my hand and the badge. "I think not returning would be a mistake, but it's your decision and I support whatever you decide to do."

I kissed the top of Maura's head before putting and arm around her to hug her. There was no way I could leave homicide. Maura would still be at the morgue and would still be at risk of something happening again. It's something you risk when you're a cop or an ME and both of us were willing to take a chance on it because it was what we did best, we didn't know anything else. So why was I so on the fence about it? The reality hit me instantly- Casey- I was grieving over Casey my actions had gotten him killed. Who's to say that it wouldn't happen again?

"Well I won't worry about it until we're both at our best again," I said after a minute. "We've got Casey's funeral in a couple days…"

Maura gently kissed my neck as she wrapped her one good arm around me pulling herself as close as possible. I kissed her forehead before resting my chin on the top of her head, thinking about the funeral while staring off into space. She needed me to be strong and I needed myself to be strong but it was so hard when I had lost a very close friend and had almost lost the love of my life.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

_Casey's Funeral…_

The hearse pulled to a stop on the road twenty feet away from where Casey would be laid to rest finally. Six soldiers in their dress uniforms stood behind the hearse; waited until the back door was opened before slowly two by two they grabbed ahold of the metal bars on the sides of the casket. I was offered by his parents to be one of the pallbearers but because of my leg and the crutches I was supposed to be off of by now I had to decline and instead stood next to Casey's mom and dad with Maura tightly holding my hand. Slowly the six men who had all served with Casey at one time or another made their way over to the large gathering of people who came to pay their respects. There were a lot of people from Casey's unit, but also a lot from my precinct like Korsak and Frost, even Frankie had come. They had all known Casey and had all been rather fond of him. Each one of them was upset to their own degree that he was gone.

After the six pallbearers set the coffin down on the metal bars that would lower it into the grave person by person stood up to say something for Casey. One person who spoke was a sergeant who served in Casey's unit. I wasn't really paying attention to what he said, everything I had been feeling had finally broken through and it took all I had not to break into tears. Only a couple days ago they asked me to say something about Casey since we had dated for a while, gone to high school together and had turned out to be fairly close friends after our break-up, but I didn't know what I was going to say. I didn't even know if I could say anything, if I tried the words would probably stick in my throat. If it hadn't been for me Casey would still be alive, but on the other side of it Maura and I might have been dead. Or just me if I hadn't been so caught up in catching Hoyt. Maura nudged me, shaking me from my thoughts and pulling me back just in time to hear the end of what someone was saying. It was apparently time for me to speak. I moved toward the podium slowly, struggling in the grass, as I cleared my throat and pushed back tears; I owed it to Casey to let people know what he did for me… for Maura.

"Casey was a friend, a soldier, and a hero. We went to high school together, but aside from the occasional glance or passing conversation in the hall between classes we weren't especially close. It wasn't until years later after I was injured during a siege on the BPD that I saw him again at a ceremony awarding heroes of Boston… Casey was there for a female soldier he knew, someone who had saved her entire squad but should have never seen combat… That night Casey kept me from getting hurt when a car carrying that female soldier was blown up…

"For a while Casey and I dated but he had to go off and do his job and I had to stay here and do mine… that strained things and after a while we decided to break it off… but we stayed close as ever. Casey even became real close with my partner Dr. Maura Isles… What Casey did for me through the years was more than I could have asked for from a friend… He was a giver and a protector, and he meant more to me and to the people I work with then I could ever explain... he became a regular face around the precinct, enough so we joked about getting him into the academy… Casey had a way of making everyone smile, but he would have made a horrible detective... Casey meant a lot to all of us and it's hard to see an amazing man like him go..."

I hadn't realized that tears had been streaming down my face and that Maura had come over to stand next to me. By the time I had finished speaking she was basically holding me up. It had been hard for me to say all of that and I was about to break completely. She walked with me back to where we had originally been standing. More people got up to speak for Casey but I wasn't listening to any of them, in my head I was realizing the last time I saw Casey alive over and over again. Along with that I was playing scenarios over in my head of how it all went down when he died. Everything finally came to the surface when two men in uniform stepped up to the coffin and carefully lifted the flag off of it. They stood directly across from one another folded the flag for the first time long wise before turning it on its side and starting the process of folding it to give to Casey's father. Thirteen folds, each one meaning a different thing. I watched, gripping Maura's hand tightly as the tears ran freely, counting each fold as it happened slowly. After the last fold had been made one of the uniformed men held the flag close to his chest and walked slowly over to Casey's father. He bent down carefully handed Mr. Jones the flag, offered his condolences then stepped away.

Mr. Jones finally let the tears run free. Mrs. Jones broke father down into tears. I turned to Maura, buried my face in her shoulder and completely let the dam break.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

_Two months later…_

I rolled over in bed and kissed Maura's neck receiving a chuckle before being smacked in the side.

"What do you think you're doing detective?" she asked rolling over to face me. "I don't think I gave you permission."

"Really?" I asked kissing the scar on her shoulder. "Do I need to remind you whose been doing most of the house work lately?"

Maura pulled me on top of her before pulling me down for a kiss. I felt the heat from her body against mine through her silk pajamas and my shorts and t-shirt. A wave of need came over me, the need to feel her against me, but as I moved to pull off Maura's top she stopped me.

"Jane you know what my doctor said," she reminded me. "No strenuous activity for at least another month."

I groaned and pushed myself off of her back onto my side of the bed. I was burning just to have a heated moment with her. It had been over three months and it was killing me especially after she would tease me with the random make-out sessions she would drag me into when we needed to work. I swear she was doing it just to screw with me.

"Now come on we have to go to work."

"You're killing me Maura…" I groaned dragging myself out of bed.

"I have to take a shower," she said ignoring my comment. "Get dressed."

I rolled my eyes as she left the room knowing full well sneaking up on her in the shower would end up with me having another broken nose. It wasn't hard to find something to wear since everything of mine was clean for once. A pair of slacks, a blue shirt and a blazer with my usually boots was easy enough to pull off. I went over to the dresser, smiling as I lifted up the picture of Casey, Maura and I after a Sox game. Casey and I smiling like idiots and Maura smiling while laughing standing in between Casey and I locking her arms with each of us. I sighed and set the picture down and lifted up two metal tags on a chain sitting next to the picture. On it read Casey Jones, they were his dog tags, given to me by his parents a month after the funeral.

'_He would have wanted you to have these…'_

I tucked them under my shirt and with one last glance at the image I walked out of the room to make myself a cup of instant coffee before Maura got out of the shower.

** Hopefully I'll have another fanfic up in the next month or two. Until then keep an eye out.**


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